Old Love, New Story
by Miss Maia
Summary: “What would you do if your first love has been taken away from you by the traps of the destiny? Would you have the courage to move on, rewrite your story with another love?”
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**** Hi, I'm back with a new story! For the ones who read 'To Love is a Choice' this is the 'evolution' of my writing skills. Oh yeah, of course, who read my humors one-shots, this one will have its funny moments. And for you who didn't read anything from me, or from anyone, I hope you enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer****: I own all the characters of this story and… PUFF! Daydream over, Maia, you don't own anything! Just the crazy ideas… The X-Men belong to Marvel. **

_**Enjoy!**_

"_**What would you do if your first love has been taken away from you by the traps of destiny? Would you have the courage to move on, rewrite your story with another love?"**_

**Old Love, New Story**

**MM**

"_Two more teens are missing in Buenos Aires with the same unnatural events. Pascal Santiago, 17, black, was playing with his younger brother, Cléo Santiago, 14, who also was kidnapped. Neighbors refused to give an interview, but it is rumored that the boys were mutants."_

Logan snored at the screen as he lit his cigarette. He knew Storm didn't like him smoking in closed places, and in response to her skeptical look, even though he loved to push her buttons, he did what she wanted this time. Stretching, he took a better look at the Weather Witch. She was charming; her hair pulled back in a charming ponytail, just a few white strands falling on her chocolate skin. And that peach dress… It's a pity that it ended after her knee. He soon turned his view to Jean Grey-Summers, who was sitting to his diagonal, staring at the television without blinking. The Weather Witch was beautiful, but he sure was into the redhead type.

"_The mother of the boys denied everything that related her sons with any kind of genetic modifications, affirming that they were normal kids."_

"Liar." Mumbled Rogue, who was sitting beside Logan in the round table in the Meeting Room of the X-Men.

"What's that, _chérie?_" Softly asked Remy LeBeau, who heard his girlfriend's remark. He was playing with his decks of cards, not paying too much attention to what was happening on the screen in front of the table.

"Nothin'." She responded relaxing on the chair and the thief's hand making little circles on her protected knee. That mother was just trying to protect her children; there was no motive to judge her.

"_The Santiago boys weren't the first on the kidnapping wave that is rushing the region. There are still fourteen other black children missing, most of them with the same suspicion of the abnormal genetic characteristic. The Argentine Police claims that the possible crimes had racial intentions related to the children's color, and alleges that it has nothing to do with mutants, and it is an action of one of the many racial groups."_

"Bullshit." Whispered under his breath Robert Drake, obviously annoyed with the Argentine Police's answer. Because of his not so polite remark, he received a telepathic pinch from his British friend, Elisabeth Braddock.

"Ouch! That hurts you know?"

The British just laughed lightly, with all her lady like attitude.

"_But the population seems to have made it very clear that they think the kidnapped kids were mutants." _The camera that was focused on the black-haired reporter moved aside to show a pitched wall. _" That is the Santiagos' house." _On the wall was pitched "¡Monstruos Maldecidos!".

"What's that-"

"Fuckin' Freaks." Remy responded dryly.

"_I'm Roberto Mirand__a, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Now the weather news with-"_

"That has been happening in the Argentine's capital region in the last couple of weeks." Started the leader of the X-Men, Scott Summers, turning off the TV with the remote control and standing in front of the screen. "The lights, Jean." He said in a lower tone to his wife. She telekinetically turned on the lights of the room. "Thank you." She just smiled, and Logan snored again. '_C'mon, Scott looks like an asshole standing in front of that television in a general position. What does he think we are, boy scouts?' _

"In the first week we decided not to interfere in the investigation, but as soon as the suspiciousness of the genetic evolution of the children were being confirmed, we agree to intervene." Because the silence filled the room, he continued. "I'm planning to send a group of four to see the situation more closely before directly intervening becau-"

"I can go." Said Bobby raising his hand.

"We haven't decided it yet Bobby."

"I can be the brutal force." He said playfully punching the air.

"It's not an offensive mission, and we need a leader. So, you're out."

"But-"

"Remy, it's a good idea if you go. You know the place better then the most of us."

"_Oui, mon _Capitan." He said lightly playing.

"Rogue?" Scott asked inclining his head on the Southern's direction.

She nodded and whispered at Remy's ears. "Anywhere with mah Cajun." Winking at her he held her hands.

"Because we're going to do some interviews it'll be necessary a telepath…" He looked at Betsy, who didn't seem to be paying any attention to him, and back to Jean, who just nodded. "Good."

"I need to arrange some things around here." Storm announced.

"If you're going to stay, Storm, I can go. Ok. We leave tomorrow at seven o'clock. All the members of the mission should be on the subsoil of the Black Bird at six thirty."

"Are we dismissed?" The Canadian asked ironically. Bobby chuckled at the joke.

"A weekend away for the X-Men couples…" He said still chuckling.

Not laughing, Scott answered.

"Sure."

As the others got up and started to head to whatever they were going to do on a Friday afternoon, Storm got closer to Scott, calling him to attention.

"Scott, I need to talk to you for a minute." Jean got the papers he was missing.

"I'll just wait outside." She said giving a light kiss on Scott's cheek.

"Hu-hun, what happened?" Storm put a file on the table and switched it, so Scott could read it. Getting the paper to see it closely he sighed. "So that's the thing you have to arrange?" She nodded, sighing. "Do you trust her?" He said letting the paper once more rest on the table.

"I'm not sure enough but…"

"I'm sorry Strom it's just that Logan… what's that?" Jean came into the room again, and saw the file on the table. "Wow…"

"Yeah. What do you make of it?" Asked Scott, Ororo also had her eyes on the redhead. After a minute to reflect, Jean started.

"I think she proved that she regenerated during the last years. She even helped us once."

"Scott?" Asked Storm. His shades traveled once more on the file.

"Let's give her a try. Afterwards, that's what the X-Men are made of, second chances." He finished the phrase holding his wife's hand, remembering the Phoenix episode. "But we have to be sure she's not planning something… I mean, can you check her?" Scott put two fingers on his temple, referring to Jean.

"Sure, when she comes, I can confirm her rightness."

"Ok."

"So it's done." Said Storm.

"Yep. When will she come?"

"Well, she's at New York for a business meeting, conference, something like that. She said she can arrive in a weeks time, maybe more. I'll call her now."

"Thank you Storm."

"But Jean," Started the white headed woman. "Wouldn't it be better if you stayed here and waited until she arrives?"

"Actually, I-"

"That won't be necessary." Scott answered for his wife. "Our mission to Argentina will be quick, and if anything happens she can fly back."

"Ok… and Jean," She said turning to face her. "What were you going to say about Logan?"

"Oh, he wants to say something about the terrace flower's smell, something about his room smelling girly." She smiled.

"I see. You can keep her file if you want to reanalyze it." She said already turning to the door. Scott took the file in one hand and Jean's hand on the other. Between his fingers you could read the name 'Emma Frost' on the top of the file.

**MM**

**Ok, this was the beginning of next chapter, but that was so long that I thought about making a prologue. :D **

**Thank you, I hope you're liking it, and, please, review!**

**Maia**


	2. Chapter 2

**MM**

"Are you really Ok with this?" Scott asked closing the door behind them.

"Yes, honey, I already told you that I'm Ok that Emma Frost is going to live with us." Jean said very slowly, obviously annoyed with her husband's insistence.

"Yeah, sure, but it's just that…"

"It's just that nothing. You don't need to worry that much." She walked to the kitchen, getting a small pot and putting on some water. "Coffee?" Scott nodded and sat on the balcony. "It's not a big deal, if she behaves herself."

"Ok. You won."

"I know honey. I always do." She said playfully turning to give him a light kiss on the lips.

'_Maybe not always…'_ She mentally corrected herself, as she turned her back to him, her smile fading.

"We should concentrate on tomorrow's mission."

"Yes, those poor kids… I don't know if I really want to know what they did to them… but I'm sure I want to stop it." She finished the last sentence using her telepathy to make the water boil faster. "And their parents…"

"Jean…" He knew what she was going say. They were married for four years, and since their second anniversary Jean always claimed for the same thing. She wanted a child. It's not that Scott didn't want one, but he was certain that he didn't want to have a son or a daughter that would have to deal with the chances of becoming an orphan.

"We already discussed that, Jean." She put their mugs on the table and sat on the chair on the opposite side of the balcony.

"Actually, you gave me a sentence."

"Jean…" He got her hands. "Honey you know that-"

"That you're afraid." She just realized what she said after the words were out of her mouth. Silence filled the room as she took a sip of her coffee, avoiding his eyes.

"I –"

"I'm sorry honey, I didn't mean to-" He raised his hand in a signal for her to stop.

"I never thought about that in this way before…" He finished looking aside. It actually made sense. Because of his trauma with his own parents, and his wife, Scott knew how it feels to lose someone you love. He felt it so many times as an X-Man that he didn't want this for someone that he would love more than life, a son. He looked back at Jean, who was silently drinking her coffee, letting her husband reorganize his thoughts.

"Do… do you really think we should try it, even with all the risks?" She just didn't drown with her coffee because she used her telekinesis to close her epiglottal. Jean didn't believe her ears. After two long years he was finally accepting this. Her eyes were shining as she tried to speak.

"Honey are you-"

"Yes, yes and yes! Of course I want to give it a try!" She forgot about her coffee and rounded the table to meet Scott's lips. "The idea also terrifies me, but that's normal." She sat on his lap.

"Thank you for showing me this. I, I guess sometimes this thing of 'Fearless Leader' gets to my head."

"Thank you too… thank you for being honest with me."

She was happy. Scott could tell by the smile she was wearing that she was truly happy. He realized that a smile was also touching his lips.

"So…" He passed an explorative hand on her thigh. "Do you want to do it now?" Her happy smile turned to a sensual one. She swooped down to catch his lips.

"Hun… what day is today?"

"Hu? Oh…" He understood the question. "17th." He smirked seeing her counting the days in her fingers between his arms. Her thoughtful face turned to frustration.

"Sorry, Romeo, just in a couple of weeks…"

"Hun…"

"I hope that's not long enough for you to change your mind…" She said with some fear.

"Don't worry, suddenly I… I don't know… I want this so much now. I think I always wanted this, but never realized it… and after the Phoenix… you know. In this last couple of minutes I realize I want… better, need this." He looked deeply into her eyes, smiling as she tried to find his eyes behind the shades. "I want to have a child with you."

"Oh Scott…" She said with emotion on her voice, hugging him. They stood like this for some minutes.

"You know… maybe for that we can wait a couple of weeks, but we can start practicing…" He tightened his hand on her thigh. Now her malicious smile stayed in place as she leaned down to kiss him again, slowly, soundly and passionately. "Let's go upstairs." He said to her neck as he licked his way back to her lips.

**MM**

Early the next day the X-Men were on the Black Bird level, reviewing the details of the mission.

Scott and Remy were discussing where and when they would go that day. Rogue was helping Hank on checking the Black Bird for its long trip. She explained the situation for him, who wasn't in the meeting the day before.

Jean was talking to Storm to see if she had any news about Emma's arriving, but the Weather Witch didn't have a specific date. As the news in the Xavier mansion runs like the wind, most of the X-Men already knew of her arrival.

The four prepared X-Men got into the plane, Storm and Beast assisting with the take off.

An hour and a half later, the jet stabilized, Scott put it on autopilot.

"Ya know, we can use this weekend away… go to some tourist points…"

"I'd love to take you to the _Café Tortoni_ mah_ chere_. We could dance some tango there…"

"Hunn… sounds good for me, sugah."

"_Hun_… let's enjoy de trip…" Remy got up and put a CD to play.

'_It won't be easy, you'll think it's strange…'_

"No way…" Scott said laughing, as the Southern couple started to dance in the airplane.

"C'mon, it's beautiful…" Jean said hugging him from behind.

'_You won't believe me, all you will see is the girl you once knew…'_

"They really can dance."

Remy turned Rogue around and, exploring her covered body, swooped her down on the rhythm of the music and stopped few inches away from her mouth, mumbling French nothings to her.

Jean rested her head on Scott's shoulder.

"I love you, ok?"

"I love you too."

"It's really important to me that you know that." Suddenly the plane shook, almost making the dancing couple fall, Remy supporting Rogue not to hit the floor.

"What happened?"

"Nothing, I hope, maybe turbulence. We're just getting to the Atlantic. We'll get there in four hours."

'_Don't cry for me, Argentina…'_

"Ok." Jean rested her head on Scott's shoulder again.

**MM**

"_Woo_… the X-men really don't care 'bout spendin' a lot of money in missions, _hun_?" Remy said as they walked into the Alvear Palace Hotel.

"I already told you Gambit, there are some rumors that this kidnapping wave has to do with the rich Argentine society."

"_Oui_. We should investigate more crimes of de rich societies." They laughed.

After the four of them were settled in their rooms, they went down to lunch. They introduced themselves as a group of American businessmen on vacation with their wives, that way no one would think it was strange that they would frequent some important places. During their lunch Jean telepathically searched the place, finding some interesting tips. They decided Rogue and Remy would search the Recoleta Neighborhood, one of the most sophisticated areas of the city. Jean and Scott would try to find the family of the missing kids.

The afternoon passed quickly, and soon the moon shone in the sky. Scott and Jean were already back to the hotel, very excited with what they had discovered. They confirmed that some of the kids were really mutants.

They were at their room, waiting for Rogue and Gambit. The couple was watching the news to see if they would see something about the kidnapping. Well, watching between some caressing. After all, it was rare that they would be alone considering the amount of people that lived in the mansion. Jean's tongue was still in Scott's mouth when the phone rang.

'_Let it ring.' _Came Scott's voice in Jean's mind as he deepened the kiss.

'_But…hunn…Scott, it's important.' _It was hard to focus on the telephone when there was a hand trying to separate your thighs. _'Wait Scott, it's Storm._' Reluctantly he let her go.

"Ahem, Hello?" Jean cleaned her throat.

"_Mrs. McGuire?"_

"Oh, yes." She remembered the false name they were using.

"_There's a phone call for you from Mrs. Blackmon."_

"Mrs. Blackm… Oh, sure." She mentally laughed about Storm's fake name.

"_Just a _minuto_ and I'll pass the phone call."_

"Yes…"

"_Jean?"_

"Blackmon? Haha."

"_Shut up…" _Said the woman on the other line. _"How are things around there?"_

"Fine, why, what happened?"

"_She's here."_

"What?" Scott, who was paying attention on the TV news, once more focused on his wife.

"_Emma. One of her meetings was canceled, so she could arrive. We need you back as soon as possible. Can you make it?"_

"Well I… just a second." She protected the phone with her hand and looked up to Scott. "Emma is there, so I need to go back. Is that ok?"

"Han, sure. Nothing really important is happening, anyway. You can go."

"Ororo?"

"_Yes?"_

"I'll be there. I'll leave tomorrow morning and arrive around… lunch time. Ok?"

"_Sure, I'll be waiting. Take care."_

"Bye." She hung up the phone. "So… I guess I'll leave tomorrow around 5 a.m. Are you sure you don't need me here?"

"Yes." He hugged her. "So… where were we?" Smiling he bent down to catch his wife's lips again.

While these two were too hooked on the mission, or seemed to, a certain Southern couple was enjoying their trip to the beautiful Capital of Argentina.

"And this, _petite_, is de _Basílica Nuestra Señora del Pilar_." Remy said hugging Rogue from behind showing her the old church.

"Hun… did you steal somethin' from it?"

"A couple of times." He said chuckling in her ears.

"Ah think we should come back and tell them what we found out."

"Let's jus stay here fo' some minutes." He said sitting on the bench at the small square.

The couple stood there for some time, Remy explaining what he knew about Argentina to Rogue, sometimes inventing some things… actually most of the times he was making up the stories, but his red in black eyes were too charming to not convince his _chérie_. He suddenly stood quiet and made a signal to Rogue for her to do the same. The thief searched the place and focused in one alley near them. Rogue didn't understand when he rushed for the place, his deck of card firmly in his right hand. She ran after him, taking off one of her gloves.

Remy had heard and saw someone spying on them in the alley. He found a man, around 25 years, well dressed, trying to hide behind a stair. Gambit bent down and got the men by the collar of his fancy suit.

"_Bonsoir monsieur, _what de fuk do you want with us?"

The man was terrified, trembling between Remy's arms.

"_Usted_, you, shouldn't be here!"

"_Hun… _is that a threat?"

"Freaks… _caramba!_" The men shouted when Remy responded his quote by giving him a punch on the stomach.

"Rogue." Remy said not taking his eyes off the man. Rogue understood and touched the forehead of the men for a brief second. He didn't pass out, but got a little dizzy. "Now you go befo' mah _femme_ does it again." As soon as the man was released he ran off like a puppy.

"What did you…?"

"Let's go to the hotel" She put her hand on her forehead as to focus "Scott and Jean need to know this."

**MM**

"What?!"

"You heard."

"Oh my God…" Jean sat on the bed. "I didn't know it was that much worse."

"All the time they were under us…" Scott looked at the window. The four X-Men were at Jean and Scott's room at the hotel. Rogue had just told them what she saw in the man's mind. The thing is, this organization, Butchers of Mutants, got little mutants kids and _slaughtered_ them in a freak show. The high society seems to like it, because they pay a lot to see this kids being brutally and slowly murdered. Because of the strong images, Rogue was still shocked. She was sitting on a chair and Remy was caressing her, protected by her hair.

"They're an organization. They kidnap young mutants, but they don't want to be known as 'mutants kidnappers', to avoid some mutants protectors, like us. So they get just the black kids, as an attempt to trick the police."

"And they are doing it."

"But you said he was following you."

"_Oui._" Remy got in the conversation.

"Why did you let him go?"

"It wasn't a good idea to get him, we don' have anywhere to put him, anyway."

"Yeah…"

"So…" Jean got up. "What are we going to do now?"

"We have to get in the tomorrow night's 'show'." Scott said the last word with disgust. He turned to face them. "But I don't think we should do that alone. If that guy knew who we are, they are probably waiting for us to appear there."

"You mean, now it can be an offensive mission." Jean completed his statement.

"Yes. And now that you're going back we'll need some help. Maybe Logan."

"I can stay."

"No. Your other mission will be more important. When you get there, you can explain the situation and other X-Man can come."

"I'm too far to do a telepathic contact and a call for help by the phone, now that they apparently know us, wouldn't be secure."

"So it's done. Remy? Tomorrow we'll go to arrange our 'tickets' for the meeting, how is your Spanish?"

"_Muy bueno_."

"Good." Rogue and Gambit left the room for their own, saying the normal good-byes. Scott and Jean were alone again.

"Is it Ok for you to fly alone?"

"Yeah, I'm a big girl." She teased him, cuddling herself between his arms on their bed.

"OK." He turned off the TV and prepared himself to sleep.

"Scott?" She murmured.

"Yeah...?"

"You will be a great father." He was kind of surprised with her comment, and wanted to ask her why. But she was almost asleep, making him change his mind.

"Thank you." He smiled happily. He kissed the top of her head and soon was sleeping too.

**MM**

"So, how is she?"

"I don't think that's really her. She's being so… polite." Betsy answered as she sat beside Bobby in the living room couch. Betsy was helping Storm and Emma so the latter would be settled in her new room at the Mansion.

"Well, if Jean agrees with it, and she was the main target of Emma, that's Ok for me." He grabbed the TV remote and turned on the television. He searched for something good changing the channel at each five seconds. "I'm not too Ok with the idea, but its fine for me to have another hottie in the team."

"Bobby…" She playfully punched him on the shoulder making him laugh.

"But it's true!"

"Yeah, right. So, do you know when Warren comes back?"

"Nope. His business trips are always a surprise. And you are his girlfriend, you should know it."

"Shut up."

"I know there are a lot of girls on these trips, you know? Girls, businessmen, orgies… Ouch!" Now the punch was stronger.

**MM**

"Take care, hun?" He kissed his wife again. Hugging him tightly she responded to the kiss with passion.

"Logan, or someone, will be back at night. See you in three days…"

"Painful days." Laughing he kissed her again.

The first sunlights were starting to appear on the sky. Her red hair was a marvelous bright orange; Scott pondered on how beautiful she was. And loved him… with a last squeeze on her hand he let her go inside the plane that was hidden in the suburban side of the city. He didn't know why, but his heart hurt seeing her go. He shook his head trying to clear his mind from these thoughts.

"July, 19th. Destination, Xavier Mansion, Q.G, New York U.S.A. Current location, Buenos Aires, Argentina." Jean started to tape her trip, as the X-Men always did when they traveled alone, in case of any accident.

"Members of the crew: Jean Summers. Local time, 5:30 am. Estimated time of Landing, 11:00 am." As she spoke, she took a look at the plane's numbers, checking if everything was in order. Satisfied with her little search, she turned off the digital recorder. In an hour she'd do the same thing again.

Scott watched the plane take off. The feeling that something was wrong continued in his mind as he headed for the car. That'd be probably his expectations for their mission tonight. He sat on the car's seat, still smelling Jean's lingering scent. He remembered their conversation the other night, how happy she was about their plans of having a baby. He started the car. She would be a terrific mother.

**MM**

"Localization: North of Venezuela, already getting to the Atlantic Ocean. Time: 7:30 am, local time. In ten minutes I'll be flying over just water. No problems getting into the air space of Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela…" Jean sat on the leather chair, trying to relax a little. Now that she'll be just over water, there's no problem in relaxing. With her TK she put on the auto-pilot.

Twenty minutes passed.

Jean woke up from her little nap to an irritating noise from the control panel. A red light turned on and off on a continued routine.

"What…" She checked the light. It was pointing that the left turbine II was just 50 and getting lower. The jet's position was also getting lightly down. Not understanding the problem, she tried to reprogram that part of the control, maybe it was wrong.

Thirty minutes.

A sweat rolled down her face as the panel showed 30. By this time she could feel the instability of the aircraft. It was starting to be difficult to stand still without any support. Now she knew that something was wrong.

"Looks like someone forgot to do the checking of the plane, hun, Beast?" Jean said trying to laugh knowing that her trip was being taped.

She checked her position. In the middle of nothing, and she was deviating to the left. The closest safe land was Jamaica, but it was still too far. She shook her head refusing to face the possibility that maybe she would have to do an emergency landing.

An Explosion.

Jean fell on the chair as she felt the impact of something exploding. She rushed to the control panel, seeing that the turbine had just… exploded. Oh my God… she let out a cry of pain realizing that in the rush she bruised her arm. Not giving it too much attention, she concentrated on the controls.

"Passing the control to manual…" She got the wheel. The light continued to blink. Suddenly another sound, with less intensity, but it wasn't what alerted Jean. Her senses got full awake when she smelled something burning.

She breathed deeply.

She was in the middle of the way, but she could do this. Being linked with a machine for some hours wouldn't kill her. She was The Phoenix, after all.

"I'm going to assume telepathic control of the jet…" Getting up, Jean put her hand on her temple and concentrated. Floating a few inches over the floor, she shut her eyes. "…Now-"

She cried for pain as her mind connected with the damaged aircraft.

**MM**

Scott woke up from his short sleep. The sunlight coming from the window was annoying his eyes. He sub-consciously searched for Jean's body on the bed, stopping his arms when he remembered the events early in the morning. With the same hand he changed his goggles for his visor, and then checked his watch, 8:00 am. Sighing and resting his sweat head on the pillow, Scott thought about his wife. He shut his eyes stronger as he felt something in his head, through their link. Her presence faded from his mind.

"The distance, must be the distance…" He mumbled to himself as he rose. A knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts. He glanced at the watch again. 8:03. Must be Remy. The knock sounded again.

"_Mon ami_, open this door befo' I blow it!" Came the impatient voice from the other side.

Laughing he opened the door.

**MM**

Later that day, Scott was satisfied with what he found about the antimutants group. He had taken the name Peter McGuire and would be in their meeting in the draw. It was around seven o'clock and he decided to go to the point of encounter with the other X-Men that would be arriving.

An hour passed and no signal of the Black Bird. Scott took off his expensive suit for the meeting, and rested his back on the car. The sun was down and there was no star in the black sky… no… there's one star, shining with the strength of all the others that were missing. Scott sighed and put his hand on the back of his neck. Something must have happened. He glanced at his watch. 9:30 pm. They'd have to cancel their mission for tonight.

He stepped out of the car and headed to the public phone booth in the narrow street. Putting some coins he called the hotel room.

"_Oui _Scott. When are you guys commin'?"

"Hey. Cancel it. There's no signal of them, I guess they're late, but we don't have more time."

"But what will they think of it? It's too suspicious…"

"Do something, throw up in public, receive an 'important' call in the lobby saying you have another meeting, anything… but cancel it. Better, postpone it, for another day."

"Sure."

"Ok."

He hung up the phone and immediately searched for more coins in his pocket. He dialed the numbers he knew from mind, his fingers trembling, even if he didn't know why. He didn't care if it was suspicious to call from a public phone; he had to know what happened.

"Hello?"

"Hi… who is it?"

"Scott? Scott Summers?"

"Frost?"

A second pause between them as Scott's fingers stopped trembling. The blonde's voice came back.

"Good evening, darling, it's a pleasure hearing your voice again. How are you?"

"I, I'm fine. Thanks. Is…"

"Yes, I'll pass to her. Good night, Scott." Scott stood still wondering why her voice was so… sweet. Emma Frost could be a lot of things, but not sweet.

"Scott?" Now was Ororo Munroe's voice.

"Storm? What are you still doing there? What happened? Jean didn't tell you that it was an emergency because…"

"Hey, hey, wait a minute, where is Jean? Something went wrong?"

"No, Jean should have told you it was for today and did she already check Emma?... Wait, what do you mean 'where is Jean'?"

"Well, I mean, where is she? Ha, she should be here by now."

Scott's heartbeat got faster. He swallowed hard.

"Isn't she there?"

"No… Scott are you ok? Jean is not here, but I thought she didn't take the plane or…"

"No, no, no, she got the Black Bird and flew there."

"She isn't here Scott. When did she fly back?"

"She should be there… I mean, we need some reinforcements. Is Logan around?"

"Yes, he's here." Logan, who was just passing in front of her chewing an apple, stopped in his tracks and looked at her suspiciously. "But what about Jean? When did she fly back here?"

"This morning, around 5 to 6 am. She should be there, Storm. Something must have happened. Damn…" He murmured, breathing slowly to get his nerves back in place.

"Calm down Scott. She's fine, you know her."

"We could use the Cerebra… Ahr, but Professor is in Genosha and Betsy can't…"

"Don't worry." Storm glanced at Emma, who was in her sight at the living room reading a book. "We got it covered."

"But... Frost." Scott understood. "I'm not there to judge if she's trustworthy, but I trust on you to do it, but be careful. Tell Hank to search for the plane. Just find her." Scott cleared his throat. "I'll fly back when Logan gets here. Make him fly tonight."

"Ok."

"Come with the Black Bird III."

"Sure. Take care."

"You too." She hung up.

"What's up?" Asked Logan.

"Go get dressed. You're going to make a tour around Buenos Aires," she smiled. He grinned back.

"K'."

As Logan got away, Storm headed to the Lab to find Hank. She wanted to feel confident, but the same feeling Scott felt seeing Jean leaving was floating on her mind. Something was wrong, really wrong.

**MM**

**Hey folks! What about that for the first chapter? Well, that is just a pre-view for what is coming… please, let me know what you think. :)**

**Thank you very much.**

** I'm not sure if the X-Men tape their missions, but it just makes sense, and next chapter it would be very important… ;) **

**Maia**


	3. Chapter 3

**MM**

"Hey bub. I heard that ya got in trouble and need me." Smirked Wolverine, getting out of the aircraft. Scott didn't laugh. "The same mood hun? Smartass…"

"Logan, stop. I'm just… concerned. C'mon, go to the Alvear Palace Hotel, Gambit will give you the details. Here." Cyclops handed a paper with the Hotel's address and some keys to Logan. He was already entering the plane when Logan called him.

"What happened?" He asked in his gruff voice.

Scott looked to his side and then directly to Logan's eyes.

"Jean. I don't know yet, but I'll find it out."

"She'll be fine. She has this experience of coming back to life." He didn't wait for Scott's reply and turned back to the car.

"Are you not even going to ask which car I rented?"

"You always pick the same one." He grumbled back.

"No I-"

"Black Audi?"

Scott laughed a little and got into the plane. Wolverine smirked, and headed to the car. But as soon as he got in it, he smelled her scent… he pulled his head back to look at the car's ceiling.

"Not again Jeannie… not again…"

**MM**

"Humm… fascinating…"

Hank McCoy was always an erudite man. He would do his best not to make any mistakes when the subject was research or his team, the X-Men. No matter how much knowledge he got, or how many new species he discovered, he was always searching for more. Although being able to save the world was something he couldn't live without, he was truly a scientist.

He stopped analyzing the genetic sample on the microscope to take some notes on his laptop, when a knock at the Lab's door brought him from his thoughts.

"Hank? May I come in?"

"Sure, Ororo." He greeted her with his unique smile.

"We've got a problem Hank." His smile faded.

"What happened, my friend?"

"It's Jean…"

"Again?" When Storm didn't laugh, he was concerned even more.

"She was supposed to be here by…" She checked her watch. "… Eight hours ago." Hank closed his laptop. "She was in the Black Bird and we need to locate it."

"Right away."

Storm closed the Laboratory door, right after Hank passed through it heading to the Control Room. She entered the elevator, still worried about her friend… was it possible? Hank was just kidding, but was it possible that they were going to loose Jean _again_? Jean was a very essential team member, of course her powers helped with that classification, but she was also the soul of the team. She, Ororo, was the 'glue' that kept everyone united, but Jean was the cheerful one, the Marvel Girl… the pretty woman that always had a smile on her face… or at least used to.

Storm shook her head as the door of the elevator opened on the first floor. Not hesitating, she headed to the living room, where the person she wanted to talk to was.

"Ororo?" Emma asked even before the whitehead said something. The thought that Emma was in her mind alarmed Storm.

"Er… yes. Emma I need to ask you something…" Emma closed her book and fixed her eyes on Ororo's.

"Yes?"

"Are you ready to be an X-Man?" The blonde smiled. "Good. Follow me."

**MM**

"Why is this taking so long?"

"Patience Bobby, be patient. As Freud once said…"

"Blah, blah… I really don't care about what he said, he's dead anyway. I just don't understanding why we can't catch the Black Bird's route."

"Hun. We've been trying for ten minutes. And…" Hank put his glasses on to read the computers information. "… I'm starting to get it. Here, Buenos Aires, 5:00 a.m. Now we just let the computer work till we find it exactly." Bobby stopped typing and looked at Hank. "Patience Bobby, patience…"

**MM**

_**Back to Argentina…**_

"I want to kill someone."

"Logan!" Rogue cut him off.

"Just for the fact that I'm wearing this gay suit."

"We didn't know how to invent your presence here. 'Gay cousin' was the first thing that came up in my mind."

"I think I'll kill _you _for that Cajun."

"Ha, the pink tie is cute, sugah."

Gambit cleared his throat when they got to the Hotel's entrance.

"Mr. and Ms. LeBeau and Mr. Angelo." Gambit said to the man that was waiting for them.

"Angelo?!"

"Shut up Logan!" Rogue mumbled to him.

"Sure, Sir. Follow me."

**MM**

She would be lying to herself if she said that she wasn't amazed. Cerebro was an incredible machine, one that she would give her life to get. She almost did, once. Now, it was in front of her, and she didn't kill anyone to get there, to the contrary, she was invited to.

Emma Frost was delighted. She touched the silver helmet, and felt the power emanating from it.

"Are you going to stay here?" She asked Ororo, not taking her eyes off the helmet.

"Yes."

"Of course you are." She smiled to herself, sitting in the chair in front of Cerebro. "Please, don't move." She asked softly. Storm just nodded and checked the psychic suppressor behind her ear.

"Oh darling…" Emma's voice was deeper, her eyes were bluer, and Storm felt the power growing in her. "That won't be necessary. And, if I want to, that wouldn't stop me either. But don't worry." Her eyes went back to normal and she turned to smile at Ororo. "I may be… uncomfortable in the beginning, but that's normal. Ok…"

Once again she looked at the helmet, now putting it on.

…

'_Why is she acting…I know this stuff, it took too long…vita e pazienza… Warren is late again that…what is going oniknowthisbetterthenhedoesvitavitagheeht'_

It was hard to control such a great power… the White Queen kneeled in front of the machine, her hands on her head. A cry of pain started to form in her throat, but it never came out. After a few seconds she resumed control, her eyes now shining an intensive light blue. Ororo didn't move, as she was told. The lights of the room got lighter.

A sweat rolled down Emma's face. "Ok… wow, that was… amazing. Well, what am I looking for? Oh, yes, The Phoenix…" A minute passed. "That's… intriguing. Such a force like Jean's should be easy to catch, but…"

"But?"

"Shh… I need to concentrate." Ororo rolled her eyes. At least she didn't tell her to shut up, like she normally did, or used to.

"A-ha!"

"What? What?... Sorry…"

"I think I got something… it's very weak…"

"Where?"

"In the south…center, near… Jamaica?"

"Jamaica?"

"Wait…. yes, Jamaica." She suddenly opened her eyes and gasped.

"Emma?"

She took off the helmet and the lights went back to normal. Emma was serious when she looked at Ororo.

"Emma?" She repeated the question, more concerned this time.

"I think it's better we go see the location of the plane."

"But what did you find?"

"I didn't find anything."

Ororo looked at Emma when she passed through her.

"Let's go see Hank." She said following her. She glanced back at Cerebro, closing the door.

**MM**

"What did you say this show was about?"

"Bad guys killing innocent children." Logan checked his pulse, caressing them.

"Just to be sure."

"_Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the Alvarear Palace Hotel, where you can see this unique show…" _Started a man in the middle of the stage, in the undergrounds of the Hotel. The place was enormous, luxurious in every detail.

"…_And with you, Santiago Sanches, the responsible of your joy tonight!"_

"Who's that?"

"The guy I'll kill after you, Gambit."

"Hey." Rogue called their attention. "Look there, the kid." She pointed to a place at the side of the stage, probably the entrance to somewhere behind it. "Let's go."

"No, _chérie_, you stay and we go. To not call too much attention!" He completed answering Rogue's look. "Logan, wait for me!"

" You freak! Wait and soon it will be your turn to… have fun! " The man laughed, hitting a little girl on the face. She was a normal girl, if she didn't have two faces, one on each side of her head. Her hair had been cut, so everyone could see that she was a mutant.

"Hey, bub." Logan entered the small room.

" You can't enter in here; the guests have to stay outside. "

" Sorry,_ monsieur_, we were just looking for the toilet. " Logan rolled his eyes.

" Oh, sure, it is- " When he looked aside to point in the right direction, Logan grabbed his arms and turned it, immobilizing the man. He shouted before a hand covered his mouth.

" What was that? " Called a voice from outside the room.

" Nothin', just a stupid kid. " Remy shouted back.

"Ok, bub, you think you are the best because ya hit some mutant kids, hu? Let me tell ya somethin'" He put his claws out slowly, inches from the man's eyes. "They have friends." Logan finished his sentence breaking the man's arm and covered his mouth with a cloth that was on the ground.

"Ok, one down, hundreds to go." Joked Remy. Logan was taking off his suit.

"We're here just to save the kids, and get out." Logan kneeled close to the girl and looked at her.

" Can you tell me where your friends are? " She was still shocked with everything that happened, but pointed to a metal door on the left. They entered there.

It was cold and dark.

"What the hell…" Remy used one of his cards to illuminate the place. He soon found a switch.

"_Mon Dieu_…"

"Oh Damn…"

They were in a fridge. Exactly like the ones you find at a butcher shop with dead cows in them. But in this one there was no cow. More than fifty children were hung up by metal hooks, some of them were frozen still with pained expressions. You could clearly see that they were mutants; some had wings, others more limbs than a human or more teeth. Logan hit the wall in anger.

"Remy doesn't think that was a good idea."

In that moment, ten guys came into the freezer, all of them armed. That was everything Logan wanted. He jumped on them, his claws out.

"Logan!" Was all Remy could say before getting the girl and hiding from the bullets behind a body. In the next moment, Logan was on the floor, bleeding, but three of the ten guys were on the floor too, also bleeding.

"Damn, he loves to show off…" Mumbled Remy before energizing a card and throwing it in the direction of the door. "You stay here, _petite_." He said to the girl before getting his staff from his suit. Still distracted by the card's smoke, the first man in Remy's sight didn't see the staff coming and breaking his front teeth. "One down, just six now…" Said the thief. As this one was falling, he grabbed two more cards with one hand, and threw them on the floor again. All that while wearing a suit.

A bullet hit the body that was at his side, alerting him that he should go. Using his staff he shoved three more guys to the ground, stepping on their heads as they fell. He searched for the girl, not finding her. "Where are you mah _petite_?!" He froze when he felt a metal sensation at the back of his head. He didn't need to look to know it was a gun.

"Oh, _Dieu_…" After that he heard a yell and the gun dropped. The smoke was falling.

"Always in trouble when ya're not near me, right sugah?" Remy sighed when he heard his lover's voice. She was till holding the man's hand, skin to skin.

"Remy? No, Remy didn't need help." She looked at him, folding her arms. "But he thanks anyway." He said with a sheepish smile. "And the others…?"

"There." She pointed to three guys hung up by their suits on the hooks. Logan was at their side, smoking. The three of them looked around and Rogue saw the little girl crying near a body on the ground. Marie came closer the girl, offering comfort, and she hugged her, mumbling something in Spanish.

"It was her brother." Rogue said as she passed though Remy and Logan, with the girl on her arms.

"Logan, where are you goin'?! We have to go befo'…"

"I need to pay a visit to some… Santiago."

"Ok, but be back soon." They rushed through the door already hearing voices.

** Translated from Spanish.**

**MM**

"Scott just called from the plane, he'll be here in thirty minutes or less." Kitty said as Ororo and Emma passed through her. She choked on her apple when she saw Emma.

"Thanks Kitty." Said Ororo.

"Hello Ms. Pryde."

"You… you, here?" She asked making a face.

"Yes, it's a pleasure seeing you again too."

"Wow, you're using an entire blouse, what happened?"

Emma was about to answer when Storm entered into the conversation.

"Kitty, later we'll talk, you were out with Lorna and Alex right? Emma is with us now. But when did Scott call?"

"Han…" Said the young woman for the first time taking her eyes off the blonde. "Fifteen minutes ago, I think. I just got back from Australia with them, yes…" She looked again at Emma and shook her head, leaving the hall using the nearest wall.

"She loves me." Emma smiled.

"Right. C'mon, let's go see Hank."

"Hank?" She called once they entered the Control room.

"Ororo, hi. We're finished locating the last coordinates, it had a magnetic interference… did Lorna come back?"

"Yes, they just got back, must be her."

"Hun… I suspected. Let's see, Bobby?" Bobby was focused and frustrated with the screen in front of him.

"Just a second, just a second…"

"Emma." Beast greeted her with a genuine smile, and got one back as a response. "Did you find anything with Cerebro? I saw that it was on from here."

"That's why we're here, Dr. McCoy. I'm… confused with what the Cerebro pointed to."

"Of course…"

"Here!" Bobby exclaimed.

"Told you, just some patience…" Bobby was playfully mocking him and typing the coordinates on the computer.

"Latitude… South…" He was speaking to himself as he typed. "It's done!"

"So let's see-" Hank stopped talking as the red point started to blink at the screen.

"Oh Goodness…" Ororo was also speechless.

"My Saint Achiropita…"

"_Cyclops just got here." _Came Betsy's voice in the communicator of the room. _"I told him to go there with you guys, ok?… Gosh, why are you so quiet? Ha." _She turned off the communicator.

Emma looked at Ororo expressionless. The weather witch couldn't believe what was in front of her. The red point at the screen continued to blink where the plane and Jean's mental force was.

They heard someone rushing through the corridors heading to where they were.

"Scott." Said Emma, still expressionless. He opened the door abruptly, breathing heavily from the rush.

"Where… where is she? The plane is still on, we should go quickly if something-"

"Scott." Ororo tried to calm him down.

"- if something happened, I'll gather a team so we can-"

"Scott!" Now it was Emma who cut him off, for the first time in minutes expressing something, anger.

"What?" He looked around and saw all the serious looks. And then he looked at the big screen in the middle of the room. "No…"

The red point was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, between Jamaica and Haiti. The aircraft had fallen.

"Scott…" Storm tried to hold his hand but he wouldn't let her. The silence was horrible, all the thoughts, frustration… Emma was feeling everything. Jean was so loved by her friends… and lover; she looked at Scott, and for a brief moment they shared glances, before he left the room, not wanting to speak with anyone.

Storm cleared her throat.

"We'll search for it."

"I'm on it." Bobby already raised.

"Call Psylocke, Polaris and Havok."

"Sure, Storm." The Iceman left the room.

"Do you need…"

"No, Emma. Elisabeth is a telepath. You stay here. Hank, we're leaving in fifteen minutes, we'll go with the plane Scott got here in, it's already settled."

"Sure, I will… I will help with the take off." He answered. Ororo also left the room.

"How do the X-Men deal with dead so easily?" Emma asked Hank, still with her arms folded. He looked at her, very seriously.

"We don't."

**MM**

Damn living hell.

Those were the words Scott Summers would use to describe life at this moment. A living hell. With a lot of fire, for preference.

He was sitting on his and Jean's bed… well, just his now. Again.

He laughed at the irony though. He knew Storm was out searching for her, but he knew now why their bond had disconnected. She was gone… right in the moment of their life where they would rebuild their relationship.

He passed his hand over the sheets remembering their lovely moments there… and the bad ones too.

His body was covered with sweat from the trip and his little rush to the Control Room, when he still had hopes. The room was dark, but he'd rather it stay that way, so he couldn't see Jean's picture next to the bed.

A knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts. He ignored it. A few minutes later it knocked again. He gave up and stood up to open the door.

"Wait, I'm coming!" He said to the wooden door.

"_I just knocked once." _Came the voice he knew from heart.

"Hey…" Alex thought this was one of those moments you don't know what to say, but sure 'hey' is not the best choice.

"Hi Alex hu…" Scott passed a hand on his face, cleaning the trace that the dry tears let on his cheeks. "Why aren't you with Storm and the others?"

"I, it wasn't necessary that I was there… as I'm here." He looked at Scott. "Brother I…"

"You already did this before, remember?" Scott tried to laugh, but Alex stood serious. He hugged Scott, who at the beginning didn't respond to the gesture, just a few seconds passed before he surrendered to the pain in his heart.

**MM**

"Gambit called."

"What are you now, a secretary?"

"Shut up Kurt." Kitty gave him 'the look'. "They did what ever they needed to do in Argentina… but something, involving Logan, went wrong and they needed to come back urgently."

"What happened, did he kill a guy?"

"He said that they destroyed a classic hotel in Argentina and saved one girl. A great mission. And yes, Logan probably killed someone." The silence filled the room where Nightcrawer, Shadowcat and Colossus were.

"Did you tell them?"

"No…I still can't believe it." Kitty blew out.

"Da." Peter agreed with a nod.

"Do you… do you really think she's dead?" Kurt said poking his head out the fridge.

"Storm and her team are out to search… to search for the body… they will come back in a few hours with an answer."

"But do you…"

"Kurt, please." Peter said.

The silence filled the room again.

**MM**

"We're here Storm." Said Bobby stopping the plane with Shi'ar technology in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

"Betsy, anything?" Asked the leader.

"Yes, I can feel… it was getting stronger and stronger…we're on it, I'm sure."

"Polaris, I'll calm down the waves and you'll levitate the plane." Lorna nodded. Bobby opened the Black Bird's III door. "Let's go."

The two women left the plane flying. Using her powers, Storm calmed that area of the ocean, making the waves turn into calm water. Polaris concentrated and felt the amount of metal under hundreds of meters of water. With a strength that just a mutant at her class could have, the water started to move again, but not because of the wind. In the beginning there were just a few bubbles on the calm water. Bobby looked at Psylocke in the plane and was about to ask something when the few bubbles turned to an agitated water, making a tube. Polaris groaned and improved her power.

Now you could see the point of the Black Bird coming out of the water. Bobby quickly adjusted the plane to make a magnetic net, so they could bring the airplane back to the mansion. While doing that he asked Betsy:

"Can you feel something?" She sighed.

"I think we'll have to arrange another funeral."

**MM**

"_Hank?" _Storm asked by the hangar communicator.

He got out the destroyed plane with his thumb down.

"No body yet?" Kitty asked while analyzing the damaged black box.

"No." Ororo answered. "But the plane has a big hole at the cabin, so it could have… could have fallen, or something like it."

There was a minute of silence in the room.

"Ok, I have something!" Kitty exclaimed. "The recording of the trip!" She still had her glasses on when she had the CD in her hands.

"Call Scott. He'd like to hear it… I guess."

Ten minutes later the X-Men were gathered in the Control Room where they were going to listen to the recording of Jean's trip. Scott was at the door, arms folded beard unshaven. Emma was right next to him, arms also folded. The rest of the team were spread around the room, including Kurt upside down, Kitty, still with her glasses, grasping Peter's hand and the ones that had just come back, Rogue, Remy and Logan. Polaris was with Bobby and Hank, fixing the CD to play. Alex was next to Scott and before it started he closed the door behind him. Betsy looked at Emma just before the first sound started, and could feel where, or better, at who the blonde was looking at.

"Ok…" Said the Beast. "Now it's just a push of this button and…"

'_July, 19__th__ 2006. Destination, Xavier Mansion, Q.G, New York U.S.A. Current location, Buenos Aires, Argentina.'_

No one expected to feel such a strong feeling at the sound of her voice. That sweet and at the same time strong voice. Scott cleared his throat.

'_Members of the crew: Jean Summers'_

"Love you Sis…" Storm mumbled under her breath.

"There's a pause here…" Said Bobby. "Ok." It started again.

'_Location: North of Venezuela, already getting to the Atlantic Ocean. Time: 7:30 am, local time. In ten minutes I'll be flying over just water.'_

Hank sighed.

'_No problems getting into the air space of Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela…'_

'_Hearing her voice hurts so much' _This thought escaped from Scott, and the two telepaths around caught it. Emma looked at him, almost exploring him. And then her glance met Betsy's purples eyes, and she deviated the look.

Another pause.

"Here it says that the problems started. The left turbine exploded forty minutes after this…" Declared Iceman, not wanting an answer for his comment.

'_Looks like someone forgot to do the checking of the plane, hun, Beast?'_

A silent tear fell down Hank's face. They all could feel the tension on her voice. Kitty's grasp on Peter's arm got tighter. Rogue looked aside and up to Remy, who also had a sad look.

They could hear the plane's sound, Jean had forgotten to turn off the recorder, exposing her nervousness. They heard the explosion's sound, making everybody skip a heartbeat. A weak moan from her was also in the tape, followed by another explosion. The noise of the wind and the aircraft's alert were higher.

'_I'm going to assume telepathic control of the jet…Now-Beeeee…' _

"What? What happened?" Asked Scott unfolding his arms.

"The recorder stops here."

"What does that mean?"

"That means something really abruptly happened with the plane." Lorna finished Hank's comment.

"It crashed." Saying that Kurt teleported from the room.

Scott also left the room. Nobody tried to stop him.

"That's why I found her 'mind' inside the Ocean. She was still connected with the plane when it crashed." Emma said.

"Yeah… must be that." Elisabeth said looking at the blonde, then also leaving the room.

**MM**

**Next Chapter: How will Scott deal with the fact that Jean is dead again? Emma, is she that sweet and how she's affirming? And the big question… is Jean really dead? If you're thinking this is a JOTT fic… well, I won't spoil it for you, I'll keep my mouth shut. Let's just say things are not like they seem to be. Please, check the next chapter!**

**And don't forget to Review and tell me what you think.**

**Special thanks to ****Telepathic Angel**** for the correction :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**MM**

_One month later..._

Scott was at the hangar, once more checking the Black Bird's wreckage. Everybody in the Mansion was concerned about him, he was taking Jean's death too hard. In the funeral, he didn't say a word, and asked them not to bury her in her grave because 'she'll rise again'.

Right now he was trying to find some comfort in those metal pieces, since he couldn't get it from anybody in the Mansion. He didn't let them help. His excuse to be around the last place his wife died was to try to repair the electrical system of the plane.

He was unshaved, wearing a dirty white blouse. Scott was so into his actions, that he didn't notice that someone was watching him. She gave her martini another sip, and from the hangar's principal door, continued to watch the poor guy 'I Hate Myself' messing with the crashed aircraft. She was dead, for God sake, can't he just accept it? She was getting kind of frustrated.

Emma put her glass on the ground and started to walk towards Scott. She was less than one meter away from him, when he finally noticed her presence. While he was turning around, Emma could swear that she saw him wiping his tears.

"Hey." She said quietly, now afraid that she might have interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey." He answered after clearing his throat. She felt her own nervousness as she passed her hand through her hair. "Aren't you going to eat something? It's past midnight."

"Not hungry." A noise from his stomach betrayed him. Emma smiled. "Ok, maybe a little." He turned to face her. She looked at the ground and back to him, now realizing that his smell was as good as his appearance. Ignoring that fact, she put a hand on his shoulders.

"Scott, I'm sorry about Jean. I know everybody is saying this, but I really mean it. But please, look at yourself. You should try to live on without her."

He didn't answer for a minute.

"You don't understand." He said turning around again, and Emma thought that all her progress was in the trash now. She gave up and started to walk away, but a deep male voice stopped her.

"I can still feel her."

"What?" Emma turned to see him. His back was towards her.

"In the plane. I can feel her force through our bond. I don't know why, but I feel comfortable when I'm near it. And I just feel it here."

She was feeling something inside her as he said these words… what was it? Pity?

"Scott I-"

"I know, I'm probably crazy… but I just feel better here." He finished his sentence passing his hand through his hair. A cute gesture, Emma thought. She got closer to him, and once more leaned a hand on his shoulder.

"Where can you feel it?"

"Hu? Well, principally here." He got one of the wreckages, and Emma could see it was from the panel.

"Let me try something." She put a hand on it, and concentrated. For his experience near a telepath, Scott knew she was using her powers. He took a step back, not wanting to interfere, but a hand stopped him. "Stay here. You'll feel it better though me." He stood still a moment, just looking at her hands in his, and then nodded.

Emma could feel it clearly. There was no doubt, Jean's mental signature stood connected with the plane; that showed how she tried to stay alive. Emma was filled with her power, and so was Scott. He gasped as he felt her inside him, in his mind… remembering the love he felt for her.

Suddenly Emma gasped and let Scott's hand go.

"Emma?"

A weak scream of pain shot out of her, as she started to contract.

"Emma, let it go!" Her grip on the metal piece got tighter, and her eyes were shining with a different intensity.

"I… can't…"

"Emma!" Scott grabbed her, trying to pull her off. He knew what a telepath needed in those times. "Focus on me! Forget about her, let Jean out of your head! Focus on my voice! Please, do it!"

He could see all her muscles contracting, as tears fell down her face. Her skin was very red, and he was afraid that she would faint, or something worse.

"She's…not…"

"Phase to your diamond form Emma! Let it go!"

She was trying to do what he suggested, but it was so damn hard. After some minutes of tension and pain, Scott saw her feet become a light blue color, and sighed in relief as her entire body became diamond.

Emma was expressionless as she let it go. In her diamond form, she couldn't feel anything; she was as cold as a rock. Literally.

"Sorry."

"Are you ok, are you hurt?"

"I'll be fine." She looked at him, murmured one 'I'm sorry' and headed for the door. All that with no expression on her face.

Scott watched her leave, still on her diamond form.

He looked back to the metal piece, and a feeling he hadn't expressed since Jean's death consumed him: anger. He took his visor off, and screaming he blasted it. His muscles were tensed as the red beam shot out his eyes. Shaking his head, he destroyed everything related to the Black Bird in the hangar.

Closing his eyes, Scott felt his knees getting weaker and kneeled in front of the destruction he just made. He put his visor back on and a hand on his head.

"Fuck!" He murmured still kneeled over.

After five minutes of recomposing himself, he slowly got up, and also headed towards the door.

"What the hell?!" Wolverine shouted as he entered the hangar, seeing the destruction and Scott. "What were ya doing, Slim?! I heard ya from the third floor!"

"Leaving my past behind." He headed to the Mansion's Gym.

**MM**

Crying.

Emma Frost was crying.

What was happening to her? Since she joined the X-Men she was acting different from her normal state. They were… poisoning her, better, infecting her. That was the only explanation.

When she got into her room and headed to the bathroom, still in her diamond form, everything was ok. But as the water started to fall on her face and body, and she phased to her human form, the tears followed them.

The feeling she felt while connect to Jean's force was so intense… so much love, pain… she couldn't bare it. She passed a hand through her wet hair, trying to make the sadness go away.

Her thoughts traveled to the man she was observing before all this. Scott was like shit, and now she could see why. Jean was part of him, and he loved her so much… Emma herself envied them. She never had someone like this to share her love. Since her childhood she was rejected, no matter how rich she was, nobody ever loved her the way Scott did with Jean.

If she was in his place, she probably wouldn't bear such a lost. She'd rather die…

The water stopped to fall on her as she closed the faucet. She got her bathrobe and walked through the room. A sudden thought came to her.

"Oh hell…" Was all she could say before rushing out the room.

**MM**

"_Jean?" Asked a sixteen-years-old Scott to his best friend._

"_Yes, Scott?" Answered a fifteen-year-old Jean, while walking with her friend on the Institute's surroundings._

"_Do… do you have any, any partner for the dance on Friday?" He cutely passed one hand through his hair, a gesture so familiar for his close friend._

"_Scott Summers, are you asking me to be your dance partner?" _

'_Damn, why is she always so direct?' He mentally asked himself about Jean's question. She started to laugh and he blushed, noticing that she got his comment. _

"_Hun… yes?" He tried to say. _

"_I'd love to… I mean, if-"_

"_If? If what?" The Fearless Leader started to groan inside him. _

"…_if you catch me."_

"_What?" But his question was answered when she started to run, giggling and once glancing back to see if he understood her playing. "Oh, you will be my dancer partner Jean Grey!" He said to himself as he also started to run after his friend. _

_Their little game was about to end when Scott was just a few meters behind Jean, but she would never be defeated this easily. Concentrating, she floated a few inches from the ground and made a telekinetic shield around herself, before entering into the closed forest. _

'_He won't be so crazy to get in here.' She, wrongly, told herself. _

'_Oh, I will!' Scott was a determined man since then, which made him enter the middle of the trees and bushes like a maniac._

_Jean didn't notice that he was still following her, and looked back. At this same time, she saw him, and he almost caught her. 'Almost' is the right world, because he tripped on a branch and fell in the closest ravine. Jean didn't realize that there was one, because she was flying. _

"_Scott, watch out!" Was all she could say while he flipped over till he finally hit the ground. _

"_Scott? Scott? Please answer me!" Scott slowly opened his eyes, seeing a worried red face staring at him. He soon recognized it as Jean's. _

"_Oh you're alive, thank God!" A weak 'what' was all he could say at the moment._

"_You passed out, you didn't move for ten minutes! I was so worried, like, what would I say to the Professor? 'Hey, I killed Scott!' I don't think he-" Her desperate speech was cut off by Scott's small laugh. Wow, she's so cute when she's worried, was his thought. She stopped talking and blushed a little._

"_I, I don't think you'll be my dancer partner, right?" He asked, still with his back resting against a tree._

"_Actually, I will."_

"_But I didn't catch you." He said rising one hand to rest on her face, and feeling the dizziness once more filling his mind. _

"_Wrong. You caught me." She leaned closer to press her lips lightly on his. These were the last things he knew before, with a smile, he dived into unconsciousness. _

The tears were still falling on his face as he closed the faucet. The hot water was good for his tired body, but made him remember things he deeply wanted to forget.

Scott thought about his life, and how it seemed to mean less without the person that used to give life for him: Jean.

She was the one who calmed him down before he blasted something, or someone, that he shouldn't. She, more than once, saved his life… she separated him from a demon that possessed him, En Saba Nur.

And now, when he was finally going to have the closest thing to a normal life and family, the same life she gave to him, took her away.

Now that she wasn't with him, was it really worth to keep? Was life really the same without her?

Of course not.

So _why_ keep with it?

Those thoughts were hunting him… more than those, the desire to end with everything.

Scott looked around the locker room, where he always took a bath after working out. He hadn't technically worked out, but wanted to freshen up his body in a place that didn't remind him of his dead wife.

''_Leaving my past behind', who am I kidding?' _

The Leader of the X-Men remembered that in every room in the Mansion has an emergency kit. Not just a normal kit, because it wasn't a normal house. In it there was always everything necessary to save a life; some mutations can't wait to get into a surgery room. In all those kits, between some other things, there were a syringe and good dose of morphine.

"Ok Scott, for once in your life, be real brave." He said to himself as he, still naked, walked to the corner of the room, where the emergency kit was. He opened the box and without hesitation, got the syringe and started to fill it with morphine.

'_Waiting till your heart stops must not be so painful… I hope.' _

**MM**

Emma Frost ran down the stairs like a crazy woman. Not that she was acting too different from that. She mentally sighed to the fact that there were just a few X-Men around at this time, most of them were already asleep, or hadn't even come back home this Friday night.

Maybe she was right, and would save someone today. Or maybe she was deadly wrong, and would just pass through one of the most embarrassing moments of her life. Anyway, she kept running.

'_Waiting till your heart stops must not be so painful… I hope.' _

Was the thought she caught before entering the men's locker room. Her instinct was right, he was like her.

Also with no hesitation, she opened the door and called for the name that was filling her mind since some hours ago.

"Scott?!"

He froze. Maybe now was not the time for him.

Abruptly, he glanced towards the door, and because of his still wet face, his glasses slipped from him, falling on the floor.

"Who is there?" He let go the syringe and extended his arms searching for some support.

Emma, like any other woman, blushed at the sight of a naked handsome man, and suddenly the fact that she was wearing nothing but her bathrobe became a very important fact. Though he wasn't looking at her, his eyes were tight closed contending a deadly blast.

"Scott, don't do it." She said confirming her fears seeing the syringe and the morphine on the floor.

"Why?" He turned around, not really convinced by his actions, unwrapping his arm from the rubber wire.

"You have to accept it. You can't run away from it. Believe me, I tried. Running away is not the solution." At each word she got closer to him, and stopped to catch his visor from the floor.

"I don't think I'm brave enough… to do it." His back was facing her, so she leaned one hand on his muscular shoulder.

"Do you think that if you weren't brave enough, I would be here? Oh, C'mon." She made her best to smile. "Turn around." He obliged. "Here." She slowly put his visors on his eyes, during the movement getting on the tips of her toes. She wasn't wearing high heels like normal, and he was so taller now. When she stretched herself, her bathrobe knot undid, revealing her beautiful body to the man that had just opened his eyes.

"Emma, what-"

"Some times, darling, the best way to forget someone, is to hang with someone else." She said to him, not redoing the knot.

"I don't think…"

"That's your problem, Scott. You think too much." Still on the tips of her toes, she caught his lips in a frantic kiss. And for his own surprise, Scott kissed her back.

'_What are you doing Emma Grace Frost!' _Was Emma's consciousness warning herself not to do anything stupid. _'You will stop now! This man, yes, this damn strong and hot man that you are kissing now needs help, not a wild woman jumping on him! You will stop right now!... Now in just a few minutes...' _Her inside fight stopped as Scott's hands grabbed her hips, hugging her closer. Her legs hungrily embraced his wet body and her lips continued their work on his neck. She wasn't catching any thoughts from him. He was following her advice, he wasn't thinking. If this was good or not she would find out later, right now her logical side wasn't a part of the situation.

The sensation of a woman's lips on his flesh was so exiting, he had almost forgotten it. He didn't want to think, his other head was in the leadership of his body now. No preliminaries, no sick love, no promises, just a wild fuck. Yeah, he could deal with it.

Carried away by the sudden feelings, Emma worked even harder and faster on his whole body, grinning to herself as she felt him getting harder. On her way, she made them both hit the ground, he on top of her.

Scott thought that the fall would hurt her, but it had the opposite effect: it aroused her even more. For the first time she really moaned between his arms during the fall, and Scott was tasting something he never did. With an intense hand he pulled off her robe, leaving them both completely naked.

Not wanting to waste anytime, afraid that he would change his mind, Emma captured his lips again, and crawled under him, inviting him to take her. Not sure if the gesture was enough for him to understand, she murmured in a very aroused tone in his ear…

"Take me Scott." Were the words that echoed in the locker room and Scott's mind. He thanked God that nobody was near to hear, this was just for him, for him only. How he could deny a request made so arousing? He wasn't married anymore, after all. With both his hands, Scott separated Emma's legs, letting out a husky grin feeling the moisture in the area. Apparently they both needed this. Her flesh was wet and red, and he couldn't tell where was wet from her shower or her sweat, but he licked everything. Stroking her arm as a signal for her, not really wanting an answer, Scott entered her, deeply moaning.

Soon the locker room was filled with sighs, moans, and flesh-in-flesh sounds. Those responsible were in a frenetic journey to nowhere specifically, just wanting to forget their problems. And they were doing it very well.

Emma turned them both, reverting their positions. When she was on the top, she leaned him down, kissing during it all, from his chest to his neck till his ear: "Just, just let it go Scott" A deep moan "…just let it go."

**MM**

**JOTT fans, please don't kill me. Really. /runs away/ **

**/come back with a baseball bat/**

**So, like I was saying, this fic is full of surprises, and there are still a lot of things to happen. ROMY fans won't be disappointed, JOTT fans will have to wait [and I hope that you liked the JOTT moment in Scott's memory, tell me that in your review … xD and JOTT haters can enjoy every bit of this chapter. **

**Thanks for reading, and please /hide the bat/**** review. ;D**

**Next Chapter: ****Will Scott regret what he just did with Emma? And what will the others X-Men think about it? And more, Emma, as a sex therapist, gives Remy nice advice, and he works on it. ROMY **


	5. Chapter 5

**MM**

A week had passed. Emma had avoided Scott during this time, but he continually tried to locate her. Her only safe place was in her room… or so she thought.

After that night, she woke up on her bed, she had probably fallen asleep and Scott carried her to her room. She smiled at this thought as she continued to pretend she was reading her book on her bed.

She couldn't run from him forever… they didn't do anything wrong, right? He was widowed, after all. Suddenly a knock at the door brought her out of her intimate thoughts.

"Come in." She regretted her words as the man that she such thought about this week came into her room.

"Emma we-"

"Need to talk." She finished for him. Scott just closed the door behind him. "Well we-"

"Before you say anything, I don't regret it… I'm not feeling sorry or something like it." For her surprise, he said what she was going to say in a very different way.

"But Scott I don't think we should… you know… have a-"

"Relationship?"

"It's complicated." She got up to get closer to him. He couldn't avoid looking at her, beautiful long legs and a generate necklace. "It's not that I didn't like it …" _'or that I don't want to do it again' _she though for herself "It's just that we're very different. That would never work."

Scott seemed thoughtful and delicately got her hand. She tried to catch his eyes behind his red shades.

"Did you know Jean?" She raised one eyebrow to him. "No, you're not understanding… did you ever really meet her? Her personality, ways and all?"

"You know that answer Scott." The fact that he was still holding her hand started to be annoying.

"We were different." He got a step closer to her. "Very different. And it was because of that that we got together. Different people complete each other. I think…" He kissed her hand "… we complete each other, Emma Grace Frost."

For her now, he can hold her hand and more.

He got closer and gave her a sweet kiss.

"Your room or mine?" Her sexy tone was back

"Here." He reassured her and carried her back to her bed.

**MM**

A whistling Emma Frost got into the kitchen. Wearing only her robe, she got on her tiptoe and got a bowl from the cupboard. Still whistling, she walked to the fridge and opened it, searching for the milk. As she closed the door with the carton in her hand, she also shouted.

"Are you crazy!? You scared me!"

"Sorry, _chérie._ Why you so happy abou'?" Remy also got a bowl for him, but he didn't need to be on his tiptoes.

"Remy, it's 6am, since when are you up at this hour?"

"Jus' got home. X-Men mission, that's what Remy does, right?" He blinked for her as they sat. "So, why you so happy?"

"Why can't a woman just be in a good mood in the morning?"

"Hun… do you know what Remy just heard from you? 'I totally fucked during the whole night'"

"Shut up…" Her spoon was still in her mouth but she couldn't cover her smile.

"Good for you… and Scotty of course. Ah really don't care, but this news can be complicated for some X-Men."

"I know. That's why you'll be quiet, right?"

"For a _femme_? Everythin'." He yawned.

"Tired?"

"Not really. It's jus'…ah, well…"

"What's wrong with the mansion's Cajun?" She played with him.

He took a deep breath.

"Ah need to fuck."

"Wow, you even used the first person."

"Ah'm not kiddin'… and mah _chérie_ does too."

"Do you know that I'm a sexterapist, right?" He looked at her wide-eyed.

"_Ouu…_ Scotty is so lucky!"

"No, it's not about that I'm talking about… I mean, I can help you."

"_Han. _Nobody can help us… I mean, we try some things, but we never… never did the real thing."

Emma thought about that for a second.

"Remy? Do the X-Men practice scuba diving?"

"What? Yeah… we have the equipment down in the gym."

"Good. Follow me."

**MM**

_In the Gym_

Remy brought their equipment and scissors, as Emma had asked.

"But Remy doesn't understand what you… Ahh…" He nodded as she made a hole in a specific area.

"Got the idea?"

"Ah'm forever grateful." He got the scuba clothes and was already leaving.

"Don't forget the gloves and socks!" She yelled back.

But he was already too far, heading to a specific spot, like a lion hunting his prey.

**MM**

Rogue took a deep breath as the hot water fell over her body. _'Maybe I could use a cool shower' _she thought to herself.

Another night had passed, another dream, and after trade of pajamas, more thoughts about how life sucks when you can't touch anyone. It's not the fact of her; she herself could deal with it… but knowing that you can't satisfy the man you love; that really was the worst.

Her head was still under the water when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her bedroom door was locked, also her bathroom one, but no door could hold the man that was behind her.

Almost at the same time that the hand laid on her shoulder, it leaned down, exploring her womanly curves and resting on her waist.

She didn't need to turn around. She knew who was moving that hand, that gesture, and definitely she knew how she wanted to hit him and scream with him asking why is he trying to kill himself. But God, she desperately wanted to let him keep doing it.

"Remy please, don't-" She stopped again when she felt something new, a different sensation on her skin. What was that, a handkerchief? Something like it… she forgot about the handkerchief when Remy's mouth started to work on her neck, from behind till where his tongue could go.

"Easy _chérie_." He said with his manly voice making her feel tense. "This time it will work, trust me."

She didn't know if she could trust him, her logical side always said to not to do it. But again, her heart was talking louder. Screaming, actually.

Anna turned around slowly, and red, remembering the fact that she was naked. The water was still falling on her face, making the difference of color of her white-and-brown hair more perceptive. The handkerchief was 'glued' on her back and neck, thanks to the pressure of the water. When she saw him, she did the last thing someone would do in this situation, naked in the bathroom with your boyfriend.

She started to laugh.

Laugh hard.

"Rogue?" Remy asked in an attempt to make her come back to the mood.

"Ha…you, you… this, what's… what's this?" She pointed to the light-green colored scuba clothes that her lover was wearing.

"Oh this? _Hun_. Ah even thought you would like." He smiled. Besides the green clothes, Remy was also wearing a glove, the thinner he could find, a condom to protect him from dying, and a pair of socks.

"Oh, sure. Ah love when ya look like a bubble gum." She laughed again, but her smile faded when he got closer to her, hugging her deep. She felt him, and his intentions. She felt so safe in his embrace, and yet so…aroused.

"No fears, _chérie_." His voice was so mainly and sexy, his kisses were traveling everywhere the handkerchief could cover. Rogue was starting to think that the hot water that was still falling on her was too cold compared to her skin now. She wanted him. He wanted her. No fears, no regrets.

Remy got her in his arms and leaded them both back to the room. Of course they let a trail of water behind them and on the bed, but it would be wetter soon.

Anna would be lying if she said she didn't want this, but she was a little scared. After all, she was a virgin. And with his rush, Remy forgot about this detail and keep with his eager appetite. Remy's signal to stop was a fresh tear running down Rogue's face. He stopped; worried he looked at her, who was under him.

"Are you ok, Ruguey?"

She took a deep breath. His eyes were so full of love, tender, she couldn't lie to him.

"Remy Ah… Ah'm scared. Ah'm sorry, Ah'm really—" Two covered fingers laid on her mouth.

"Remy knows _chérie_. Just relax, let me do it, for now." He moved away and Rogue lifted an eyebrow to him. She soon understood when he got the handkerchief and put around his mouth, almost making her laugh again, because he looked like an Arab dancer, but in bubble gum clothes. He got her arm and started kissing her hands, licking, making love to her hands. He wanted her to feel anything but fear.

Cajun was really skilled when the subject was sex, so he was using it with the only woman he wanted to. Getting down to her elbow he licked a sensitive spot, making Anna shiver. Remy was totally holding himself back, with her he needed to be calm, making her enjoy everything.

He continued his attack to her skin, passing to her arms, neck, and breasts. This last one made Rogue transform her low growls into vivid moans.

Rogue was in ecstasy. All the new sensations, the new feeling… a part of her was still trying to stop it, like 'this won't work out', but another part, a very specific one, would kill Remy if he stopped. "Rogue…" He broke her line of thought and made her look up at him. His tender eyes were mixed with desire, and she liked that. "Look at me." She wouldn't look to anywhere else. Rogue understood what he meant; he wanted to know if she was ready for the real thing.

She slowed hard as the gloved hand sprawled her legs. Damn, she was wet; Remy closed his eyes and bit his lower lip as he felt it. He looked back at her, just in time to see her nodding and closing her eyes. The bubble-gum-man positioned himself, but before he could do anything further he made her once more look at him. "Look at me." He reaped his last sentence.

"Ah want you to remember…" He said slowly as his movements. He didn't know at that time, but she would never forget.

**MM**

"Hey." Kitty said as Emma turned around in a second. She was trying to hear what was going on in Rogue's room, her ear was on the door. Kitty gave her a skeptical look, principally to the fact that Frost was still in just her nightgown. "Should I ask?" Kitty said again.

"Probably not." Emma answered getting up and trying to hide her figure.

"Suuure. By the way, Jean is loving what you're doing with Scott, if she was in Hell she would prepare a special spot for you." With that Shadowcat turned the corner of the hall.

"Bitch." The blonde murmured to herself.

"I heard that." Popped a head from the wall next to Emma said that, scaring her. "Same to you." And it went back into the wall.

"Crazy little bitch."

**MM**

_One month and some days before… _

Water. Everywhere, there was water.

Hitting her, she couldn't breath.

Was she alive?

She swallowed more water, salty water. Her thoughts were starting to make sense when something hit her head hard. She fell into unconsciousness again, maybe forever.

Miguel Santoro, a nice young Cuban man, was appreciating the view in the city he lived, near Santiago de Cuba. He was there with his brother, Lucas Santoro, they were discussing the situation about their Orphanage. They were orphans, and because of that they knew how it was hard to deal with it.

"We can't help it, we need to hire someone else!"

"Miguel, you know we can't. We don't have the money to do it."

"But the kids, they need-"

"We all need something." Lucas said passing his hand through his dark hair. "We'll just have to wait till the government-"

"What was that?" Miguel had stood up and was pointing somewhere in the beach.

"What?" His brother turned around, because his back was to the sea; the beautiful sea with the moon shinning on it.

"I think I saw something, let's go."

"Miguel, we shouldn't go just –"

"It can be a child." That argument convinced his brother. They went down to the beach and found what they least expected.

"Nice, some fishes, that's what you saw?" Lucas asked his brother, some dead fishes on their feet.

"Look, I think they are burned…"

"There's nothing here, let's go back."

"No, I'm sure I saw something… I think it was red and—Shit!" He exclaimed as, in the middle of the dead fishes, the wave brought what seemed to be a person.

And it was. It was a woman.

**MM**

**:D Please review.**

**Hope you guys liked the ROMY moment, the 'KittyXEmma' thing, and of course, the last part.**

**I have to be honest, I have never been to Cuba, I don't know much about cities there, if there is something wrong related to that, please send me an e-mail. **

**Maia**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey guys, sorry it took so long. But I just could post because we had a holiday, so I had some time. I think I'll be able to post sooner the next chapters. Anyway, thanks for reading, and enjoy!**

_**September 7**__**th**__**, Brazilian Independence Day**_

"_**Independence or death!" **_

**MM**

"I think we should take her to a hospital, Lucas." Miguel said to his brother as the woman they had found at the shore rested on the med bay. "She's weak… and she's probably not Cuban…"

Lucas lay a wet cloth on her temple; the woman mumbled something. It looked like she was in pain.

"She's American." He concluded listening to her English-mumblings.

"That can be a problem for us, Lucas. We have to take her back… back to wherever she's from."

"No. Not yet. We'll wait and see what will happen…"

The woman started to mumble again, and Lucas injected some anesthetic on her. "Let her rest. We'll decide later."

**MM**

She opened her eyes. There was pale sunlight coming from the window. The room was made basically from stone and had some details in wood. Seems like an old construction; she tried to get up but dizziness and a strong arm stopped her.

"Easy." The voice had a strong Latin accent. "Are you alright? Can you tell me your name?"

"I'm…" She tried to say. "Where… where am I?"

"He asked your name, lady."

"Lucas stop. Let her organize her thoughts. You're in Cuba, _señora_." He said back to her.

"Oh… what is it?"

Miguel looked at her with a questionable look. "Hun, maybe you should focus just on the main question, what's your name?"

"I'm sorry…I don't think I understand you…" She started to look around the room, as if searching for something. "Actually I don't understand anything… I'm… I'm…" She started to puff and Lucas got the anesthetic again. "I…" she cried for a last time before fainting "I don't know…" She fell on Miguel's arms.

"She just needs more rest."

"Don't you see, Miguel!?" Lucas said as she was laid on the bed again. "This can be our solution!"

"What are you talking about?" His brother raised from the chair next to the bed.

"She is the solution! There's a high chance she can't remember who she is, so she can work with us!"

"What?! Are you insane?! This woman has a life, see? Look, she's married." He took her wedding ring from the left hand. Lucas quickly grabbed that from him.

"Hey!"

"Shut up! That is for the kids! She'll stay with us! We'll give her a name, a fake dead family and a history!"

"But she has a life Lucas!"

The older brother looked for the ring on his hand, the name 'Scott Summers' was written on it.

"Not anymore."

He left the room, leaving Miguel and the unconscious woman inside. With an impotent look, Miguel followed him.

**MM**

"Surprise." Scott brought Emma back to reality and out of her book as he hugged her from behind. "These are for you." He gave her two white roses.

"Oh… thank you." She turned around to kiss him. "White roses, hu?"

"I thought those would be better than red ones." She smiled again.

"Yes, these are better."

Their relationship was growing in a way neither of them thought it would. The magical three words hadn't been spoken, but if things keep going like they are, they soon would.

Months had passed since Jean's death, and the X-Men were starting to accept and live with the fact that their loved friend and one of the strongest members was out of the team. It was harder for the close friends, like Ororo and Hank; they sometimes went to Jean's grave to put a rose or just to spend some quiet moment with her memory.

Logan was another one that didn't understand her death – he spent some nights searching for any news in the Caribbean countries' hospitals, news about a body found in the sea, or a lost woman.

Hank was intrigued that every time he went to Jean's grave there was a fresh new red rose; he asked Ororo about it, but she also didn't know. The flower didn't smell like Logan either. He thought about Scott, but he seemed so fine with Emma… but who knows?

**MM**

"Her name is Jean." Miguel told Lucas as he searched for any information in her clothes. "It's written in her clothes, the one that was under her clothes, probably a uniform."

"We can keep her real name." They were discussing in the woman's room; she had been with them for two weeks, but she was still dizzy and weak.

"She's waking up. Look, Lucas, you do it. I don't want to be part of this… this lie."

"I told you, if someday she gets her memory back we-"

"No. You do it. I'll prepare the kids for their new… new friend."

"Instructor. She'll be their instructor."

"Whatever. We have to be careful now that the guerrillas are around the city…"

"They will never get into an orphanage."

"Hun…" The woman mumbled as she sat on the bed. Miguel left the room.

"Where… where am I?"

"Don't you remember? You live here…" Lucas started telling her. _'She will never remember. She can't remember.' _He thought.

**MM**

"The signal comes from Australia." Kitty told Hank as the X-Men were in the X-Jet for another mission. "I've was there some months ago, the situation seemed to be under control, but the government agents couldn't deal with that group of mutants."

"What's going on?" Kurt asked as he teleported into the aircraft.

"Bunch of crazy mutants in Australia." Emma told him.

"Just some fun, elf." Wolverine completed the sentence. Kurt, Scott, Emma, Iceman, Hank and Kitty were going to the mission. The objective seemed easy; just neutralize young mutants that thought they could rule the world.

"What are their powers?" Scott asked as he sat next to Hank in the pilot seat.

Kitty once more consulted her laptop. "There's a big guy called 'Rocky' and I think his name is very suggestive; there's Kurt's sister-"

"That's not funny." Kurt said as the image of a 'female Kurt' appeared on the hologram on the panel. She was like Kurt, but besides the tail and the ears, she had wings.

"- ok, ok just kidding Kurt. They call her 'Vampire', maybe because of the teeth and wings. But she also had this kind of gun in her left hand, but we still don't know what it is; completing the team there's what the Australian government called the 'Twins', twin brothers with mental powers."

"The last two are for ya, blonde." Wolverine said. "I'll get the big guy while Kurt plays with his sister."

"C'mon, this is not funny!"

"Sorry, Kurt, it is." Hank said as they laughed.

They soon were in Australia where the group was. The police was trying to keep them in the desert part of the city, keeping them from getting downtown. Scott, as the X-Men diplomat, went to talk to the responsible agent and soon was back with the coordinates.

"X-Men, prepare for offensive attack, and don't forget, we don't want any dead." He said as the police gave them space, and soon they saw the four targets.

"But they are just kid-" Wolverine was caught off guard as a dart hit his neck. He soon was on the ground mumbling some bad words.

"I got it Scott!" Kitty said as she watched Logan's dizziness. "The 'Vampire' shoots anesthetic darts, and probably with an acid fluid." She said after analyzing Logan's neck. "So watch out guys. Are you ok Logan?" He shook his head.

"Damn girl, forget the big one, I'll kick little Kurt's ass!"

The battle soon was heated. Frost was trying to control the mental twins. But it seemed harder than she thought; Emma could handle only one at a time.

"Cyclops, can I kill this insect?! So I can handle them both!"

"No, Emma!" He shouted just after Iceman was hit with another dart, but it didn't penetrate his frozen body.

"We're obviously missing a _good _telepath here…" Kitty quoted before diving into the ground, using her powers.

Scott was shooting at the big Rocky guy. "Don't kill anyone, Frost!"

"Right!" Emma said as she finally made one of the brother faint. "You're good, just not good enough-" Frost was cut off as the other brother entered her mind, paralyzing her muscular system. She soon was free from the grasp; when she looked back she saw Kitty besides the fainted boy. Kitty had emerged by his side and put her hand inside the boy's body, quickly squeezing his artery, making him faint for the unsteady source of blood.

"You're good, just not good enough." Kitty repeated her sentence, laughing inside from Emma's deathly look at her. "And you're welcome!"

"Hank, now!" Scott screamed from the opposite side of the two women. Beast understood the message and threw a rock at Rocky's head, making the big guy fall. This was enough for Iceman, who froze him on the ground.

"Three down, one to go!" Wolverine shouted as he smelled for Vampire's scent.

"Wow!" Kitty screamed as a dart passed through her, almost hitting Emma, who was fast enough to turn into her diamond form.

"Thanks for that, Katherine." She said sarcastically.

"Don't need to thank me, Frost, it didn't work."

"Can you two please stop?" Kurt asked them as he teleported to the direction of the dart. He soon reappeared near Wolverine, with the winged girl next to him, they seemed to be fighting. "All yours, Logan!" He shouted before teleporting again, letting Logan handle the girl. She looked very dark and fearless; Logan could almost like her if she hadn't tried to kill him.

"You're really tough kid, we could deal without combat. C'mon, look around you, your friends already gave up." She did so, and the Australian police were already arresting her friends. "Just drop the gun and surrender." The X-men surrounded her in a defensive way. She seemed to understand, and dropped the gun. "That is it girl, that's right." When Logan was getting near her, she jumped on him, biting his neck hard. Wolverine's blood scattered on the ground. _"Why do you think they call me Vampire?" _The girl whispered to Wolverine in a sinister voice, but soon Hank got her off Logan.

Wolverine fell on the floor, but soon was recovering with Kitty's help. As Hank dropped Vampire, she fell to the ground, in a convulsion. Scott called for the Australian paramedic, but they couldn't handle it - the girl died.

Hank asked for her body, as he had international license for mutant's causes. After a research of protocol, the agents let him take her.

After some fifteen minutes of the disaster end of the battle, the press got there. The X-Men were surrounded by reporters, and Cyclops gave the order to them just to get in the plane and out of there.

A reporter got an image of the battle field, giving a close to the blood pool and Wolverine's uniform. She tried to talk with Scott, who was with Emma. He just waved and got into the X-Jet. Iceman, who was the last X-Men to get inside the plane, answered one of her questions.

"Iceman, Iceman! What did you think of this X-Men mission? You just saved Australian citizens of a horrendous mutant attack! Iceman, how is it to be a hero?!" The blonde woman asked him. Before answering, Bobby gave her a look of disgust.

"Ask a fireman."

With that the X-Men got into the aircraft and took off.

The mission was good for the X-Men, because it made them reflect their cause. Scott was being harder during DR sections, and he put Emma as a psychologist for the team – they really needed to work with their convincing arguments.

Scott was in the living room, talking with Hank about Vampire's body.

"She had an incredible power, I mean _powers_. Besides the morphing aspect, the wings, face and tail, she produced a kind of acid on her neck glandules, this was the anesthetic Kitty told us about and- Scott?"

Scott seemed a little distracted. Hank looked at the direction he was glancing, and saw Emma in the library.

"I'm sorry, Hank, what you were saying?"

"Well, we can talk later Scott." Hank winked at him and left the room.

"Hey." Emma kissed him as Beast left.

"You just made me look an impolite man."

"Really?" She kissed him again. "I'm sorry about that." When she looked up to him again, Scott locked his eyes with hers – and she met his behind the red shades.

Something inside Scott made his heart beat faster. Her sky blue eyes were penetrating his body and soul. A feeling he thought he would never feel again started to grow inside him.

"Emma…" Aware of his thoughts, Emma put one of her perfect fingers on his mouth.

"Scott, don't say anything you're not ready to."

He stopped to think once more.

"Do you want to move into my room?" He asked, but they both knew what he really wanted to say, or thought he wanted.

"I thought you'd never ask."

**MM**

The next morning Scott woke up at 4:00. For months he had been waking up at this time. It had been around 8 months since Jean had died.

He kissed Emma before getting out of the bed, staying for just a while to watch her sleep.

He went to the mansion's yard, in the direction of the cemetery; before getting passing the gate, he took a red rose form his pocket.

As he was doing everyday since Jean's death, he replaced the old rose from her grave. Moving a bench from behind a tree, he sat in front of the tombstone.

"Hey." He said almost to himself. "We all miss you; I know I say it everyday, but this time is special." Scott bit his bottom lip. "I… I miss you, that's true. But I wanted to tell you something. I know this is strange, but I can't do anything knowing that you disapprove; but I also know that you want to see me happy. And… and I think I found a way to be happy again… maybe not as happy as I was with you…" He swelled the tears. "… but I'm trying. I want to be happy again, Jean. I think I have the right." He got up and touched the stone. "I'm going to propose to Emma tonight. I think you should be the first one to know." He stood there, quiet for a moment. "I love you. I always will, I can't deny you were the love of my life… but now I have another love. Good bye Jean."

He started to walk back to the mansion, not knowing that a pair of blue eyes was following him during his trip – a pair of wet blue eyes.

**MM**

"Jean I think they were right." Jean had adapted very well to her new life; she couldn't remember anything, so she accepted the fake life they gave her – an orphan that now worked in the orphanage she grew up. Her powers hadn't manifested. All her abilities were mental powers, and her mind had also forgotten, or 'turned off' the memory of them, because they were connected. She'll need to remember them to use them again, but lately she was having some headaches, a signal of her powers.

"They were right, the guerrillas will get into the orphanage!" Miguel shouted again as Jean was running with them to the shelter. A non-official military group was invading all government establishments in the city, and that included the orphanage. There was a revolt against the communist government.

"Why are they doing it, they are just kids!" The redhead screamed as she carried a baby in her hands. "C'mon, they are getting closer!"

They were transporting all the kids to the shelters away from the city. Miguel and Jean were getting the last ones. But as they were running thought the suburb streets in the direction of the truck, a group was also following them. "Miguel go!" She said to him giving him the kid she was carrying. "Get inside the truck, I'll try to dismiss them!" Miguel looked at her speechless. They had developed a strong friendship. Jean liked Miguel, but had something against Lucas, the other brother. But she didn't know what it was. "Just go!" Miguel always admired this about her; she always knew what to do, and worked really well in a team.

"OK, ok, take care!" He soon turned on the vehicle and left her.

Jean kept running, to where she didn't know. The group was near her and she ended up entering a bar. There was nobody there; this part of the city already had been 'cleaned' by the independent military group. But the TV was on.

As she tried to focus on what to do, she listed to the news.

'_Last night in Australia, the X-Men once more stopped a radical mutant group from kilingl many innocent lives.'_

She didn't know why, but her attention was now on the TV.

"X-Men?" She said to herself, searching the word inside her mind.

'_The leader of the group, Cyclops, didn't want to give an interview, but our reporter could talk to the Iceman. 'Iceman, how is it to be a hero?' 'Ask that to a fireman'. Seems like Iceman was in a 'frozen mood'...'_

Jean had already stopped paying attention to the reporter's comment. One name marked her: Cyclops. As she saw the image of that man, her heart beat faster. She knew those people. Her head started to hurt like hell, she thought she would have a migraine again. But no.

She started to remember; years of life passed through her head in a flash: her family, the X-Men, professor X, her death… her marriage. The mission in Argentina… tears started to fall down her face, but they were from anger.

And finally, she remembered Phoenix. The force, that was lost in space, found her master again.

"Jean" Jean said to herself. "Jean Grey-Summers."

At that exact moment, the bar's door opened in a rush.

"Jean!" It was Lucas. "They are coming, we need to-" The woman looked at him and penetrated his memories, back to the day she first woke up in Cuba.

"_But she has a life Lucas!"_

_The older brother looked for the ring on his hand, the name 'Scott Summers' was written on it. _

"_Not anymore."_

"Now it's you who won't have a life." She smiled, a dark smile, and killed him, turning his nervous system off.

As Jean felt the spirit of the death inside her head, she tried again to reassume control. It was not just Jean who was back, Phoenix also wanted to give her show. Jean needed help, and she cried for the only one she could trust.

"SCOTT!"

The militaries heard her scream inside the bar, and entered it shooting – big mistake. The sounds of the bullets woke Phoenix's spirit again, and Jean couldn't control.

After the small massacre, Jean took back the control of her own body.

"I need to get out of here…" She said to herself. She would use her powers to get back to New York; when she got there she would call the Mansion… Yeah, that seemed to be a good plan. Everything will be fine, she'd be fine. She'll go back to Scott, they'll build a family…

Yes, it was a good plan.

**MM**

**Thanks for reading.**

**It took me some hours to write it down, so you could spend less than a minute to send me a review, right? Thank you.**

**Thank you Ashleigh for the correction ;D **

**Next chapter****: Jean was happy with her plan; but as soon as she found the Mansion, her heated plan seemed a little… frost.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Sorry I'm late, but here it is! I'm on vacation now, for a few weeks, but that will be enough to post more frequently.

**JOTT fans**, this is not a question, it is more like a request[actually I'm on my knees, but it's still a request ok? Pleeeeease? I mean, read it! xD

Go read **"Why JOTT should be JOTT"**. You guys won't regret it, and don't forget to send me your answer, so I can post it. The story is on my profile, after reading this chapter, go take a look. ;D

_**Enjoy!**_

**MM**

Home.

Jean almost couldn't believe it when she saw the Institute far away from inside the cab. She was returning home.

Jean flew back to Florida after what happened in Cuba. She was exhausted and passed out. She was found and brought to a hospital, where she could rest. After a week, she became conscious again, being able to call the Institute and talk to Ororo. It was a shock for most of them, and after a year, Jean was coming back home. Back to her friends, her family… Scott.

She was dying to see him again, to kiss him, to hug him… they would be happy. After all what happened to them they deserved happiness.

Her body shivered when the car stopped at the gate; it wasn't the feeling she expected to feel. Her bond with Scott wasn't working, but as soon as their bodies came closer and she felt his scent and love, it would be open again.

The shiver continued as the gate opened; something did not seem right… She was almost feeling a telepathic cold.

**MM**

_One week before_

"Scott this is... wonderful." Scott understood Emma's feeling towards him, and he was liking what he was discovering. Emma was like him: in love.

Though it's not easy to fall in love, and stay in this state, with someone like Emma Grace Frost. She proved her name constantly. But they both had already suffered in life, and now were rewriting their story together.

They had gone to a French restaurant, maybe not as sophisticated as Emma was used to, but they both enjoyed the dinner. After the dinner, Scott led them to the Institute, and Emma had made a little protest about coming back early. He just grinned and she understood when he parked the car at the viewpoint.

It was the second time Scott would propose to someone, and he wasn't going to do it at the same place… the Central Park was where he proposed to Jean, after the Phoenix issue. He wouldn't dare go there again.

Scott knew she wasn't really surprised. After long years of living with telepaths, he could feel when they were really surprised.

"Just… wonderful?" He asked again, leaning towards her holding the small box with a sapphire stone gold ring. "Aren't you supposed to say something? Maybe… yes?"

Emma took the ring; the blue of the stone matched perfectly with her eyes. _'No crying Emma' _She ordered herself. After putting the ring on her left hand, she raised her head, enough to catch his lips.

'_I think that's a 'yes' for me.' _He projected.

'_Yes. That's a 'yes.' _She sent back, kissing him deeply.

Two days passed and the entire Mansion now knew that there would be a new Mrs. Summers. The reactions were different, from Bobby's 'way to go man!' to Kitty's almost fainting. Scott was happy with it, his heart did not feel any regret. The 'talk' he had with Jean, that morning at her tomb, made him understand that it was time to move on. Though something inside his soul yearned for the contrary.

That night Scott had trouble sleeping; he looked at Emma, deep asleep at his side. The bond he used to have with Jean was popping inside his head, but that shouldn't be possible. He was not feeling Jean's presence, but a remaining psyche was disturbing him. Waking Emma to help him wasn't an option, considering that she was already exhausted because of the wedding divulgation. And he just imagined the scene: 'hey fiancée, can you help me with the fact that I'm feeling my dead wife's psyche in my head?'. That wouldn't be nice.

After taking some sleeping pills, he fell asleep.

Emma was having a wonderful dream; she always wanted to have a normal life, but since she was young that was denied for her. The only place she felt normality was in her dreams. Her life now was going to be better than she ever expected it to be, but still, her fantasies in the night were her shelter. During her sleep, she heard a voice; a strong voice was calling someone. Who was it? The view of her dream was becoming lighter, and she knew she was going to wake up. Who is that voice? _'Jean…' _She jolted and opened her eyes.

"Jean!"

"Scott, wake up, Scott!" She shook the man beside her, enough to bring him from his thoughts. He was breathing hard and sweating. Emma didn't want to look inside his mind, afraid of what she might see.

"I…" He tried to say. "I'm sorry."

"Was it a nightmare?" They both were avowing their glances.

"No… I mean, I don't know… it was like…" Before Scott finished he looked at her eyes; Emma was obviously ashamed, and almost sad. After all he had just screamed for his dead wife while sleeping aside his future one. "Yes, a nightmare. I'm sorry." He couldn't say the truth. He had lied to her, in his thoughts.

Jean had called him.

But that was probably just in his mind.

"I'm sorry… I'm a jerk." He smiled to the blonde. "Let's go back to sleep." Scott kissed her hand and cuddled her, reaffirming his position as her, and not Jean's, partner.

**MM**

_Present_

"Why didn't you tell him?" Henry said as he and Ororo walked to Scott's office.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how it could affect his relationship with Emma…"

"But Jean is coming here! She's alive Ororo, we can't deny that to him!" They stopped in front of Scott's office and Storm knocked.

"I know… but we'll tell him now."

"Come in!" Scott said from the inside.

"Scott, my friend, we must tell you something very important." Henry was the first one to talk.

"You must know, Scott, that we didn't want to cause any disturbance for you… but this is just incredible news." Ororo bit her lower lip, also very excited that her friend was coming back from the death. Again.

Scott smiled and asked his friend to take a seat.

"Well, what do you-"

"SHE'S HERE!" yelled Kitty phasing through the door. "Jean is back, oh my God, Ororo, the cab just got here!" The tears were also running down the young woman's face.

Scott didn't say a word or make a move for a second.

"Is… is it true?" Henry could see pain in his voice.

"Yes." He answered him. "She was found in Cuba and lived in an orphanage for months. She had amnesia and her powers were in a hibernation mode during that time. After an incident…" Scott wasn't listening anymore. He was already up and headed for the front door.

**MM**

The shiver continued to run through her body as she got out of the car. The first one she saw was a very important man in her life.

"I knew it." Logan said before hugging her deeply, surrendering for one lonely tear. "I knew they were wrong. Folks like you never die." After the hug Jean looked up at him.

"I missed you." She looked at his back, to the front door, where the other X-Men started to appear. "Where...?" Logan knew who she was looking for; and also knew she would be damn broken when she realized what happened during this year.

"Jeannie…" He tried to avoid the encounter, to avoid her suffering. But the one she was looking for had just passed through the front door.

"Oh my God…" She said already surrendering to her tears as Scott ran to her, meeting in a hug, deeper than the one she shared with Wolverine.

"I thought I had lost you…" He said between the hug and tears.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know…" Their hug lasted a moment, and Jean, not really wanting to, felt the tension growing between the X-Men. She turned her face to try to kiss him, but Scott was faster and got her hands and kissed them.

She noticed something. Where was his ring?

Jean finally looked around; Kitty had happy tears on her eyes but had a sad expression; Peter, who was beside Katherine, was trying to do his best to smile; Logan was facing the ground, and she felt the sadness for her; Ororo and Hank were the next ones in the hug line, but just the former was smiling. And then she saw her.

Emma Frost was in front of the door, looking in her direction; but not to her, to Scott. She knew that look. You don't need to be a telepath to feel those things.

Jean pulled apart from Scott, fresh tears running her face.

"Jean, I –"

"Don't." She looked aside to avoid his glance. "Don't even try."

"Jeannie." Logan, who was still behind her, supported her, and only he knew if he wasn't there she could have fainted. "Let's go inside. Hank needs to see you. Hank!" He called for him, and the other X-Men made their best to make the situation better.

The afternoon followed with the same mood, joy and sadness side by side. Scott was trying to talk to Jean, but the others were right: he should wait until she gets better. Though it's not easy to recover after such a revelation. In a day Jean knew about Scott's wedding, and that certainly didn't help.

The next day, Scott's team had a mission. It wouldn't take too long, it was in New York, and soon they were out of the Mansion. Jean took advantage of that and went to the kitchen. For her relief, nobody was there. She silently made her way to the shelter, looking for a specific thing.

"Still here." She said to herself, getting the bottle of Johnnie Walker.

She made herself comfortable at the table and started to drink.

_Pow._

'_What's that?' _She thought hearing the noise from the hall. _Pow. Pow. _The constant noise was approaching. Was Peter doing an afternoon jog in the hall?

A figure of a short man appeared at the door. He was carrying a big hammer at the side of his legs. The hammer was resting on the floor, it was responsible for the noise.

"Wanna do something really fun?" Wolverine asked her before noting the bottle. "And drink some good stuff? Whisky is for ladies, try some beer."

"I am a lady."

"Yeah right." He winked at her, putting the hammer on his shoulders.

"Weren't you on Scott's team? For the mission?"

"Just when I'm in the mood. Gonna follow me or not?"

She didn't read his thoughts, though her curiosity wanted to. She just got up and joined her friend.

He headed to the Institute back yard. She just realized they were in the cemetery when she saw the gate.

"Logan…"

"Shh. Think this is like a therapy; Logan's therapy."

She smiled again and opened the gate.

She passed the grave from old friends and students. Jean never liked the cemetery, but at least once a year came to think about her life… and the ones here buried.

They stopped before one specific grave: her grave. She noticed a red rose lying on the ground. It was vivid red.

"You…?" She asked pointing to the flower.

"No." Logan answered, not needing to say who was the responsible for that. "That's mine." He pointed to a half tree, cut by his claws in an angry moment.

"Every… every day?" She asked still referring to the flower.

"Every single fucking day." Wolverine answered, getting the hammer.

Jean was still looking for the flower when he banged the tool on her grave, breaking a piece of white marble. Jean jolted for the sudden movement.

"Wanna give it a try?" He asked her, handing over the hammer. "Don't worry. If someone asks, it's just therapy." He smiled at her, enough to take the offer.

The first hit was not very strong, she was still calm; after the second one, the fury started to consume her body and Jean yelled each time the hammer crashed the marble, pulverizing it. The last movement was with her mind, using her telekinesis to make everything powdered, including the rose.

Logan just watched; proud of making herself let go. He lit a cigar and waited for her to finish. After some minutes, an exhausted Jean, on her knees, was in front of just grass and thin powder. Angry tears ran down her heated face.

"How… how could he?" She turned to Logan, and the scene broke his heart.

"Forget about the stupid ass; let's get to the fun part."

"Logan," she said getting up "I don't think I'm in the mood to…"

"C'mon. I'm the therapist here. And I think you need some beer." He smirked to the beautiful redhead in front of him.

In ten minutes Logan's bike ran out of the Institute, with two passengers.

**MM**

"Honey you should rest; it's late and tomorrow we'll have to call your grandparents." Emma told Scott, massaging his back muscles in their room. They had just returned from the short mission; it passed midnight.

"I… need to finish some important things. I'll be back soon, and tomorrow we'll call them." He turned to face her, kissing her lightly. "Go get some sleep." Emma looked as close as she could in the deep red of his eyes.

"Scott, don't lie to me. You need to talk with Jean, I know."

"But… it's not what you're thinking. It's just… I…"

"That's ok, honey. You were married to her, I understand." He kissed her hands.

"Thank you."

Emma couldn't deny her heart ached when he passed through the door. But one thing she knew: now she had him, she wouldn't let him go.

**MM**

"All men are like that, a bunch of jerks." The already drunk Jean said to Logan, who was still sober because of his healing factor.

"C'mon, Jeannie its not like that."

"Bill, one more please!" She asked the barmen before turning for Logan. "'Jeannie' my ass. You're also a jerk, but that's ok, you're not my husband. He… he didn't wait a fucking year before getting laid with that bitch… I didn't like Emma, but now I truly hate her."

"Welcome to the club." He said opening his Canadian beer.

"I have no words to say what I'm feeling now… I'm worse than trash. Bill, where's my beer?!"

"Jean, relax…" Logan pulled her back, she was almost falling over the other side of the balcony calling the barmen. "Maybe we should go home."

"Home?! C'mon. And _you _are the animal here. We should stay till I pass out and you can carry me home. But be discrete, please."

"Oh, Jean, that is not too far from happening. But I'm here for that, keep talking about how Scotty is a smartass, I don't think I'll ever get tired of that."

**MM**

"Hank? Have you seen Jean?" Scott asked the blue furred man, who was alone in the living room.

"I'm sorry Scott, I think she's out."

"Out? Where?"

"Maybe talk to her family…"

"Hank…" Scott was not going to be fooled by him.

"Ok, fine. She's out with Logan. I don't think that should be a problem anyway, you're with Emma right? Scott?"

"Yeah, yeah… right. Thanks."

"Welcome, Scott."

"Oh, and Henry? Do you know when they went out?"

"Around 5 pm. After their little reunion at the yard."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. You can see that tomorrow."

"OK…"

Scott left the living room and headed for the kitchen. After a minute of searching he stopped to wonder.

"Where is that bottle?"

**MM**

"Jean? We're home, can you walk to yer room?" Logan did his best to wake her up. On the ride back she passed out, the drink finally making its final effects. They had just got to the Mansion; it was around 3 am. Logan was supporting her stand. "Jeannie? Oh crap…" He mumbled as she opened her mouth to throw up. "Not here…" He proved his strength and carried her to the closest bathroom, relieved that he got her there in time.

After a good half and hour, when she was empty again, Logan once more carried her, now to her room. She was sleeping on the second floor, the single's floor. On the third was Warren and Betsy's room, Peter and Kitty's, the new Remy and Rogue's and now Scott and Emma's.

She mumbled some words when they were in front of her room.

"Logan? Do… do you want to come in?"

Wolverine knew she really didn't mean her words. Though a part of him didn't care, he knew what was best for her.

"Jeannie, yer drunk, angry and wanting revenge. Though I really…" He took a deep breath. "Really want to go in, we both know that wouldn't be right."

She just nodded and they entered her room; he was going to let her get into her bed, not sure that she could do that alone.

When the door closed, they didn't feel that a third person was in the hall.

When Logan left the room, leaving the passed out Jean inside, the pair of shades that was observing him wasn't there anymore.

**MM**

It was really dark outside, and with his glasses, he wasn't able to see one tree. But after months being blind, Scott knew how to walk alone.

He got to the cemetery, his curiousness winning the internal battle after what Hank had said. One part of him regretted, principally because of the night's cold.

He just saw Logan getting into Jean's room, and his heart was aching, though it should be wrong. 'You're engaged with someone else Scott! She can sleep with whoever she wants! And of course it would be Logan, he had been hovering over my wife since we…' He stopped his thoughts. His wife?

The confusion in his head continued as he found Jean's grave spot. He didn't feel anything, just some powder on the ground. 'She's not your wife anymore…' He used his skilled hands to search the place. Nothing.

His rose wasn't there.

**MM**

**Thank you and please review.**

**Oh, JOTT FANS, again, go read 'Why JOTT should be JOTT'. You won't regret and this is a new way to make a fic, you'll be part of it.**

**Special thanks to Telepathic Angel, she's working with the proofreading.**

**Maia**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **Sorry that I'm late guys! I had a problem with my proofreader! But now everything is fine again. And you should thanks SkyRogue for that ;D

_**Enjoy!**_

**MM**

"You are late." Scott said to Logan as he passed by him, obviously tired form his 'fun' night at the bar with Jean. Nobody, even with a healing factor, would like to have an early Danger Room session after a night of drinking.

"Ya know, bub, tough night." And Logan would try his best to make it a fun morning too.

"Where's Jean?" Scott asked him as the others X-Men, including Emma Frost, gathered around the entrance of the room.

"That's why I'm tired, bub. She's probably sleepin' after last night." And with that Logan smirked. Remy 'oohed' as the testosterone of both man started to scream.

Scott had his fist very clenched, almost hitting him.

"Ya know, Scotty, she's not used to this, a night with a _real _man." If you can't make something nice, make it funny. Logan didn't sleep with Jean, but seeing just how Scott was getting pissed off was hilarious.

"Yeah, a drunken woman with a the-other-side-of-the-law idiot, what a couple." Even Kitty joined the 'ohhh' this time with Remy.

"Ya know what I smell on ya? Jealousy." Kitty 'oohed' again, but know directly to Emma.

Scott was about to jump on Logan now.

"Fuck off, you son of a--"

"Why don't we prove that in a different, way, huh Cyke?!" Logan got closer to him, extending his claws.

"Good idea!" Scott had his hand on his visor.

"_Mon ami, _why de rush?" Remy even tried to separate both men.

"Boy scout, last night I just--"

"Fucked MY WIFE!" Scott finished Logan's sentence, regretting his words even before they were out.

Silence.

Oh yeah, Kitty 'oohed' again.

"Emma…" Scott turned to the blonde, who was already leaving the room. "I didn't mean to…" She shut the door. "Fuck."

"Yeah, fuck you." Logan said smiling, retracting his claws.

"Hm… are we still going to do the training?" Kitty asked as everybody headed for different way. "Like, I don't think so."

**MM**

"Fucking little insect, you bastard…" Emma kept murmuring to herself as she searched for any place in the mansion to hide her nearly fresh tears. "That's right, Emma, keep crying for that idiot!" The Rec Room was the closest shelter to rush off her emotions.

To her relief, the place was empty. She silently closed the door, not wanting anyone, principally Scott, to bother her now.

Pacing around the room to calm her nerves, Emma casually searched on the DVD shelf as Scott's words echoed in her mind. _'… MY WIFE!'._

His wife.

Argh!

She was his fiancée! How could he say that!

Emma bit her lower lip to avoid the tears to run down her face.

Why Emma, with such men in the Mansion, did you fall in love with Scott Summers? She thought to herself while getting an unlabeled DVD from the shelf. Something about it called her attention; maybe was the fact that it was not labeled. When she opened it to kill her curiousness, surprise, it was empty.

Adding just one more frustrating thing on her morning, she chose a movie to watch instead of the mysterious DVD. If was probably some of Bobby's porn, anyway.

When she turned the DVD player on, she was surprised to see that another movie was already in there… a not labeled one. Not taking the trouble to put two and two together, she let her chosen DVD aside and started to watch the 'secret' DVD.

Something inside her felt the urge to turn off the TV. But she was a Frost; when she started something, she had to end it.

At the screen appeared a big S and J with a heart between the letters. Emma made a mental note to forget about her family and just obey her subconscious.

As Scott and Jean's photo showed up on the TV, Emma just sat down. She needed to at least try to understand what her lover felt for that woman. Maybe watching their marriage would help… or she just wanted to see if Jean's dress was that gorgeous as Kitty once commented with Ororo.

"_Big day, bro?" _Apparently who was taping was Bobby or Alex. She didn't know Alex, but he sounded like those brats that used slangs. Like Bobby.

Scott younger face showed up.

"_Take this outta here__ Bobby… I'm already damn nervous!" _Emma smiled seeing he once more check his suit. Some things never changed.

"_OK, ok, just say bye__ to the camera! That's your last free wave! Next time there will be a Mrs. Summers with you!" _And for a moment the image went black. She didn't know why, but Emma froze a little hearing 'Mrs. Summers'. Emma Summers. Emma Frost-Summers. Emma Grace Fros-

Her thoughts were interrupted as the filmmaking started again, now with a more professional view. She didn't know where the camera was set, but she could perfectly watch Jean walking through the gardens, directly to Scott's arms.

Yep, Katherine was right, her dress was gorgeous. She, the White Queen, could admit it.

It wasn't the dress that called her attention, though. It was Scott's face. He was… shining. Some could even say he was happier than the bride. You could clearly see that it was a wonderful and delightful moment for him… he was more than in love with Jean, and a part of Emma started to understand his earlier comment.

Not that he wouldn't sleep on the couch today, he surely would.

But something different was there… was it… true love?

She couldn't bear anymore and just jumped for the next chapter.

"What a lucky girl you are, Frost." She whispered to herself realizing that she jumped for the vows section.

She heard Jean's declaration of true love no matter the circumstances; she saw the redhead shaking with emotion as she shouted to the world her promises of forever loving and being faithful.

"Yeah right…" Frost couldn't suppress a laugh, remembering of the Danger Room scene.

"_Jean…"_

Scott's voice from the tape got her out of the quick joke.

"_I've been waiting for this moment for a long time." _Emma smiled already recognizing when he was nervous. _"Since I first saw you, better, felt you, I knew we were made for each other. We already passed such things" _You could read 'Phoenix' on his expression _"that we proved that our love is made to be forever. No matter what happens, I'll be with you. I'll love you forever."_

"_Even if I die?" _Emma was surprised to hear Jean's question. It was like… she knew what would happen.

"_If you die, my love, there's no reason for me to live." _And the kiss finally sealed their union.

Damn. She knew he meant his words, she remembered the 'locker room' scene, which ended with them having sex.

The DVD continued and Emma could see the X-Men before she actually met them.

"_And now, for the f__irst dance:" _Dazzler was at the microphone _"the funeral march!" _

Even Emma made a face at that comment, despite all the guests.

"_Just kidding guys, it's rock'n'roll!"_

Laughing, Emma didn't feel the presence of someone else in the room.

"I also laughed at this part. Like, we actually believed she was going to play that."

The blonde turned abruptly to the woman with a purple dragon on her shoulder. Of course, she should know better. No door could hold Katherine Pryde.

The idea of you watching the marriage tape of your fiancé with his ex (ex?) wife was already embarrassing. But especially for Emma Frost. It was a sign of humiliation. And showing that for someone like Kitty Pryde? Hell, that definitely wasn't her day.

"Can you understand now?" Kitty said, accepting Emma's silence as a sign to continue.

Emma turned the TV off and turned for Kitty. "Understand what?"

"That they still love each other." Her line was still sinking in her mind as Emma's cellular phone rang. "Scott was watching the tape last night. Instead of staying with you." The phone rang again.

Still glancing the shorter brunette, Emma pick it up.

"Don't ruin it Emma. Don't destroy more marriages than you already did. Bitch." Kitty pronounced her sentences while phasing through the floor. The particular last word was said already for the lower room.

"_Emma? Hello?"_

"Oh, hi, Mark." The still disoriented Emma responded to the call.

"_Get your pretty but__ over here! Our stocks are falling! We need your signature in a bunch of lists and documents, boss. The Frost Company needs you, sweetheart." _The familiar voice sounded at the other line of the phone. Mark was an old friend, even more than friend. But that was a long time ago. He helped Emma to built her fortune, and was the only director of her company that could speak like this to her.

"Sure, darling. I'll be there in half an hour." She hung up responding the good-byes from him. After leaving the room for the garage, she once more looked at the TV screen. Kitty's words and Scott's comment swing into her head… Emma looked at her ring on her right hand; the blue sapphire Scott got her.

She would get him. Now that he was almost hers, she would not let him go.

Emma Frost was used to getting what she wanted. This time was not going to be different.

**MM**

"Jean or Emma?"

"I always liked the redheads." Logan told Remy as they drank a couple of beers and whiskey at the nearby pub. After the morning fiasco, the boys gathered for some beer. '8 in the mornin' beer' as Remy would call it.

"I vhoul say I like the blonde ones, but I know Scott enough to say that this thing with Emma is just a hobby, a past-time." Piotr said before drinking another dose of vodka, his accent more pronounced with the alcoholic drink.

"But, _homme, _the two are engaged!" Remy said while shuffling his deck of cards.

"Scott just can't understand when he has a casual thing. He has to make it a big deal…" Bobby entered in the conversation. "But answering your question, Emma is totally hotter." While saying he made a mini Emma with his ice powers.

"Look, an Emma frost." Kurt couldn't miss the opportunity to make his joke at the frozen Emma. "But I'm sorry to disagree with you, Iceman. Jean is prettier. And natural."

"Who cares about that?" And the men followed the laugh.

"You know that, if some of them realize what we are saying, we would be dead, right?" Warren spoke as he took a sip of his beer.

"We sure would… but they're not here!" As they laughed again, you could tell they were drinking for a while now.

Jokes aside, they all knew how Jean was suffering with everything.

"For me Scott is an asshole. Period. He broke Jean's heart, and not satisfied, he just broke Emma's. He'll end up alone!"

"_Non, non, _Scotty alone is worse than brakin' chick's hearts! He jus' mumble aroun', sad, looking like a poor littl' girl." Point for the Cajun. "But the _homme _is luck anyway. They are both' hot _femmes_."

A moment of silence between the X-_Men_.

"But vhat about Rogue, huh? Katya said that she heard some thing from your room the other day…"

"_Ohh… _she probably heard a few things…"

And the men once more started their conversation.

**MM**

"Hank, have you seen Emma?" Scott entered in the kitchen as the clock marked 10 p.m.

"Oops…" Kitty said as she and Colossus passed by Scott. The Russian just gave an apologetic face for Scott, who nodded.

"I'm sorry Scott, but I think-" Scott cut the blue furred man.

"I know she's angry, but I think she should let me-"

"I think" Beast said in a higher tone to make himself heard "she was out for business. Since morning, yes, but you know it's not easy to run a billionaire company."

"Maybe I should go to sleep, then."

"Oh yeah, she let a 'note' for you." Hank turned for him. "Besides other things, she said that you're supposed to sleep on the couch."

"Right…" Scott sighed. "And we're not even married!"

**MM**

Her laugh once more filled the room. Thanks to the martinis and the gentlemen around her.

Emma's directory was build of ten members, all men. And of course, herself. When she used her telepathy to gain loyalty on the business, that some time ago, her preys were usually men. They were easily… convinced.

She laughed again as Mark continue to tell the jokes of the old days. The entire morning and afternoon were full of tensed moments, important phone calls and meetings. When they finally could regain some control, they used to relax. Drink a little and… relax.

It was passing midnight now, and most of the 'ten-stars', as the members of the directory were called, were already leaving the room. Only Emma, Mark and a couple of guys remained. The first two more entertained with each other than the rest.

"I can't believe you are engaged, Emma." His red hair was tossed aside while he was talking. "You're just not that type of girl. Who is the luck bastard?"

"The 'bastard' Mark, is Scott Summers. The director of the School that I'm working on. Oh, just check class C on investments, Xavier school."

"Class C. That's probably where you found this guy." Emma's blue eyes met the greens ones of her old friend.

"Oh, is someone jealous here?" She teased with him. That was a typical thing between them.

"I just know he's not good enough." He came closer to kiss her hands. "And that you are not asking my help for the wedding." He said that with a smirk.

"Oh, Mark, relax. It's… complicated." The facts of the day in the Mansion passed quickly in her mind. Kitty's words came, not for the first time in the day, hunting her soul.

"Ok, if you say so." He managed to get up. "We should go. Long day tomorrow."

The four that remained in the room soon were heading to the elevator. Emma was the last one in the meeting room, and when she went to the elevator, the others had already left. She just took a deep breath and headed for the other hall.

As she headed for the garage, she realized that a storm had started. Before getting out her spot, she made sure that her white convertible was well protected. As she said the guard good-night, she noticed that one more car was still on the garage. It was Mark's. She thought it was strange, but just went on. When she turned the first corner, she saw her redheaded friend on a forgotten taxi stop. His folder was miserably protecting him from the rain, and Emma felt a wave of pity on her heart… or was it something else?

"C'mon, get in here before I change my mind." She stopped in front of him. The soaked-like-a-puppy man got into the car.

"Sorry… my car just broke down. Damn Mercedes…" Emma smiled at his comment.

"And welcome for saving you from passing a night on the office – again."

"But that time I slept with _someone_." He turned for her and matched her smile.

"Long time ago." She rose her hand to show her ring. "I'm engaged now."

"That's not a problem for me." He passed a hand on his soak hair, letting some of the water fall on Emma.

"Oh, shut up. And stop with that!" They both laughed. "So… do you still live in that piece of junk you call an apartment?"

"Hey, more respect. And it's prettier from the inside!" He defended himself. Emma once more laughed before turning to a different street.

They laughed and talked about old times the entire 45 minutes of the ride. By the time they got to Mark's apartment, he was almost dry.

"Thank you, Emma." He leaned to her side to give her a kiss on the cheek. "The other side too." He was always playful.

A moment of silence filled the space between them.

"You know, if I get inside my apartment and the doorman realizes a woman brought me home and I didn't let her go inside, I'll be really gossiped tomorrow."

"I think I'm an exception of your rules." Emma tried to smile before realizing she didn't want it. She wanted something else. And since when did it get so hot?

He once more leaned to kiss her good bye. But instead, he put one hand on her thigh and the other to the car key, to turn it off. He came closer to her ear.

"You were supposed to know this already Emma" He whispered moving his both hands. "There is never an exception."

**MM**

**Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!**

**Special Thanks to SkyRogue for the proofreading.**

**Next**** Chapter:**Jean and Scott are finally going 'to talk'! Hidden emotions and anger comes up! And the reason why you want to kill me now for not writing more… what happened between Emma and Mark? MORE than you imagine, that's for SURE!


	9. Chapter 9

MM

**MM**

Scott woke up swearing for his aching back. The sofa in the Rec Room didn't look a good place for passing the night, and now he was sure: it wasn't. Still swearing, he realized that he wasn't alone anymore in the room.

"Have a nice night, huh Scotty?" Gambit said; the Cajun was sitting on the armchair next to Scott's temporarily bed. "This movie's amazin'. Remy always liked Sharon Stone, he doesn't care 'bout the age an'-"

"Remy?" As if noticing the man for the first time, Scott looked at him. "What time is it?"

"Six in the mornin', _mon ami_." He didn't divert his glance from the TV. "And no, yer lovely fiancée isn't home yet." Remy said that while slowly turning for Scott. "_Oops. _If she asks, Remy never said dat', right Scott?"

He ignored Remy's last joke, concentrating in his early sentence. Emma hadn't come home? At six a.m? Where was she? What she was doing? Better, what had she done?

"Remy thinks it's very stupid to sleep on de couch when ya got a bed, anyway." The Cajun continued, not liking the silence of Scott's thoughts.

"What are you doing up at this hour, Remy?" Scott changed the subject. He would talk to Emma later. Sitting on the sofa, he adjusted his visor while waiting for the Southerner to continue.

"Who said Remy already slept?" For the first time Scott noticed Gambit's clothes; they showed he was at a club last night and the smell of tobacco proved it. "Remy was just hangin' 'round… anyway, gotta go…" He turned off the TV while getting up. Scott thought about asking him if what he said about Emma was true when the Cajun spoke again:

"Oh, look who just got here…" He pointed for the window where Scott could see Emma's white convertible stopping. "Well, _mon ami, _Remy has to deal wit' his own _cherie_…" Scott was focused on Emma's form as she got into the garage. "See ya 'round."

**MM**

Emma Frost never regretted her decisions. She did what she was supposed to do, and what she thought it would be better for her… though it didn't stop her from committing mistakes.

She didn't feel she did anything wrong; it started with the job, anyway. He started it, Scott was the one who was guilty. He was her fiancé and still had crushes for his ex-wife. Was it his ex-wife? Now that she was back to life did they have to divorce? Too many questions, and all that Emma wanted to do now was to sleep, nothing more.

She steeped out the garage and thanked God that nobody was near to see her in such a state; leading a billionaire business was dead tiring. Her messed hair would be something that she'd not like to let anyone see, principally Mss. Pryde.

As quickly as her shaking legs could carry her, Emma entered in her room, alarmed with the fact that nobody was in the bed… where was Scott? Did he actually sleep on the couch or-

"Good morning."

She froze hearing his voice. Why? She didn't do anything wrong, right? He started with the 'my wife' thing!

Scott was right next the bedroom's door, and with her rush, Emma didn't notice him when she entered in the room. Slowly turning to face him, she saw his also tired figure; unshaved beard and thoughts of an aching back. He had slept on the couch. '_How sweet'_. Emma thought before he continued.

"So…" He paced around the room to stop in front of her. "Where were you?" She opened her mouth to speak, but he carried on. "Emma, I'm your fiancée. Be honest with me." He took her hands and looked deeply into her icy blue eyes. She couldn't find his own eyes, but felt them glaring her form.

"The meeting was longer than everyone expected." He wouldn't buy that, even Emma knew it. "And I was out with some friends. We didn't see the time running." She said as both of them sat on the bed.

"Oh… you were out with your friends as I was here, being a good boy sleeping on the couch?" He said getting up again. "You know Emma, you really should think twice about what a real commitment is…"

"Oh, you'll say to me what a commitment is now, huh?" She also got up, letting her temper full her features. "Look at this Scoot." She got her left hand up, showing him her ring. "This is a commitment, you're my fiancé! You were the one crying around for your 'wife'! Understand one thing Scott, _I am_ the future Mrs. Summers, not her!" Turning her back to Scott, she headed for the shower. "You have no idea how humiliating it was when you said that yesterday." Even staring her back, Scott could feel the tears on her voice. "You hurt me Scott. But that happen with most of the couples. I'm willing to forgive you, but… not now." She closed the door behind her, letting an angry Scott alone in the bedroom.

"What a fucking waste of time." Getting his bike's keys from the desk, Cyclops headed for the garage.

MM

A peaceful night, finally.

After the last night - when she had woken up three times to throw up, and had a exploding headache the next day - Jean was able to have a decent night of sleep. Yesterday she couldn't manage to go to the Danger Room. She remembered the scene in front of her room with Logan, and blushed deeply knowing that she almost made a big mistake. Though it would be interesting, considering Scott's state…

Argh, Scott's state.

Her good sleep after an entire day of hangover had officially ended; just the thought of what Emma was doing with her husband (could she call him like that now?) was disgusting…

Finally getting up, she headed for the shower. The hot water really helped her to relax, but made some memories come back; the ones she wanted to forget now, considering the circumstances.

After cleaning up, she headed for the kitchen, stopping just to check the time: 5 a.m.

Maybe she could stop at the Rec Room to get the DVD that Kitty was beeping at her ear that she should watch. A girly movie, she presumed. She got down the stairs, noticing that most of the X-Men were still sleeping; that meant no Danger Room. Getting to the Rec Room, she slowly opened the door.

Oh my.

Deeply asleep, Scott was laying on the sofa, his leg and arms in a position he would complain about when he woke up. Forgetting about the DVD, she closed the door in front of her, her hand still on the doorknob. She closed her eyes, not wanting to surrender to her tears. Just the sight of him was making her shiver since she came back. They didn't 'talk' since it, just the incident which let them both with aching hearts.

Jean wasn't able to believe that he was engaged with someone else… that maybe he didn't think about her anymore… that he didn't care…

Tears, tears… She looked up to absorb the water back to her eyes. Deciding to go, she turned to the kitchen, she wouldn't deal with it now.

One, two, three steps before she turned again. He was sleeping, he wouldn't see her… And she so wanted to see him again, to touch him. To caress him.

Using her TK to not make any noise, she reopened the door. The room was dark, and a small light near Scott's couch was the only thing illuminating the place. Walking slowly on his direction, Jean managed to sit down on the arm of the sofa, near Scott's head. She couldn't hold the tears anymore, now freely running her cheeks. Using her unique soft hands, she caressed his face, shivering as she felt his heat on her skin. His face, the same face that promised her eternal love.

As of responding her caress, the sleepy Scott turned for her hand, as if matching her gesture. A scene that happened so many times when they still shared a bed. Caressing his hair, she looked into his glasses, and matched his closed eyes; delicately leaning down, she pressend a kiss on his forehead, still trembling with the emotion.

"Jean…"

She backed away from his form, her heart aching with that word.

He called for her; he called for her in his sleep.

Not bearing the emotion anymore, she led him sleep and went back to the kitchen. On her way she heard Remy's bike parking on the garage, and laughed thinking that some things would never change.

Wiping her tears away, and enjoying the warmth in her heart that had appeared, she started to prepare her breakfast.

The water hadn't boiled yet when Henry stepped in the room.

"My, my, look who is here!" He smiled hugging her friend. "Jean, you look great! I particularly didn't see you yesterday, and got a bit worried, I must say. But look at you." He was talking about her smile; a gesture that the Mansion didn't see in these last weeks.

"Thank you, Hank. These days I was… kind of indisposed."

"I can imagine." Hank said sitting down, inviting her to do the same. "I don't know what to say Jean… this was very confusing."

"Don't worry. I really wanted to say that I'll get over it… but I just don't want to think about it right now."

"Yes, and maybe Scott doesn't either." His last sentence made Jean raised an eyebrow. "Oh, you didn't hear so?" Still getting a questionable look as a response, Hank continued with his news. "About yesterday, Scott and Emma…?"

"What happened?" She snapped. "Not that I really, really want to know, it's just that-"

"They fought."

"Really where, why?" Seeing Hank's smile, Jean blushed for her suddenly interested.

"It's ok Jean, don't worry. Kitty even planned on making a T-Shirt saying: 'I'm on Jean's side'." They both laughed at this comment. "Anyway, in the Danger Room, in front of everybody."

Jean didn't know why she was getting exited; they were still engaged, anyway.

"And do you want to know why?"

"If you don't say it now, I'll take a tour on your mind."

"Old Jean is back, huh?" He winked for her. "Scott was arguing with Logan –which I want to talk to you about after this- and he called you his wife."

"Do you mean Emma?"

"I said his _wife_ Jean. Scott called for you. He fought with Logan because he said that you two…" Hank turned his eyes, letting Jean join the two and two together.

"Oh my…" She put her hand on her open moth. "Did he think that me and Logan…?"

"Yes."

"And he… tried to defend me?" The warmth in her heart grew a little.

"Yes… but in front of Emma."

Jean diverted her eyes from Beast, too much emotion for just 5:30 in the morning. Maybe Scott was… no, he was engaged with someone else; if some of them still had scruples, that one would be her… or so she thought.

"But, did you…?" Beast was still asking, and Jean caught his thoughts.

"No, no, no. About me and Logan? No way, just friends… it's true that I got drunk, but I couldn't avoid it. But no, no sex. Hell, I don't haven't had sex for months…" She shyly admitted for his friend. "That sucks, you know? Let's just say that I know how Rogue feels right now…"

"Oh, about that…" Henry continued. "Emma helped them out in an… unique way."

"Oh, great. I'm the only lonely one in the Mansion. What a way to come back."

"Don't worry my friend…" Hank got up and headed for the door. "I'm sure you'll do fine, something tells me that your luck is about to change. I'm sorry but I have to go back to the Lab now." His blur fur disappeared on the door, letting Jean with her own thoughts.

He was thinking about her; Scott was thinking about Jean and even got all jealous about her and Wolverine. Once more she remembered his soft whisper in the Rec Room… her name. In his sleep he still called for her.

Her thoughts deviated as the water boiled.

Maybe Hank was right… her luck was about to change.

**MM**

The day passed for all the X-Men. Enjoying a day off (because the leader had mysteriously disappeared), the team worked up on relaxing. Kitty and Piotr had went to the movies; Kurt, Alex and Lorna were somewhere in the city shopping; Betsy and Warren were still in their room doing… well, doing. The rest of the team were around the Mansion, some in the pool and others in the Game Room.

After her breakfast, Jean had followed Hank to the Laboratory, willing to know more about his research while she was… out. They both didn't see the time run, and soon the sun was down. Jean heard about Scott and Emma's little incident, and also about his 'run away'. She would lie to herself if she said that she didn't get preoccupied, but it wasn't her business anymore.

The night approached and Jean went to her room, still getting used to a room of her own in the Mansion. A room _just _for her.

She didn't know what made her wake up. If it was her thoughts or her naughty dream, she didn't know, though she was deep red from the latter option.

Something was calling her… she used her telepathy to check in the Mansion, and just found one familiar psyche awaken. Deciding if she would get down or not, she got dressed and left the room.

The kitchen was dark. The moon was full, but its brightness wasn't enough to light the place. The figure she found with her telepathy was sitting in the corner of the table, just sitting there, with his head down. Jean couldn't see the tears, but could feel them… through a sensation she didn't feel for a long, too long time. A bond.

Also feeling it, the owner of the tears raised his head, looking at her direction. Now she could confirm that he was crying, and also that he still hadn't shaved.

He didn't wipe his tears and just continued to look at her figure at the door. They weren't saying anything, but they both knew they were about to make a decision.

"We need to talk." The man said, not getting up.

Jean walked on his direction, feeling his nervousness and anger through their bond; that also made mirroring feelings grow in her.

"All right, Scott. We definitely need to talk."

**MM**

**Thanks for reading, and please review. :D**

**Again, JOTT fans, go check 'Why JOTT should be JOTT', the story is on my profile, you won't regret it.**

**And what about it now, huh? What will Scott and Jean say to each other? Just try to imagine yourself at their position… they sure needed to talk, to express their hiding feelings. ;D **

**Special thanks to SkyRogue for the beta reading.**

**Maia**


	10. Chapter 10

MM

**MM**

"All right, Scott. We definitely need to talk." Jean said sitting in front of him, her words sounding more firmly than her heart.

Scott made a discrete move to clean his wet face and look at Jean again; she was beautiful as she always was. He couldn't distinguish her pupils from her green iris, the light in the room not being enough. Seeing her totally dark eye look at him, and knowing that she also couldn't see his own eyes, Scott gritted his teeth, preventing what he would say.

"How are you?" He silently asked, his teeth still tight together. He got a quick and ironic laugh as a response.

"How am I?" Jean said as she also turned her eyes, now the weak light from the window illuminating her face. "How am I." She repeated to herself. Her voice was marked with a sad and ironic tone.

Now he could see the green eyes. Green eyes and tears.

"You…" The redheaded took a deep breath as if preparing for her speech. "You couldn't wait a few months… a few fucking months to get laid with the first bitch that appeared and now you ask me 'how am I'?!"

"Jean…" Scott said getting up, a part of him wanting to defend Emma.

"Shut up." She also got up, but her voice was still low. "You don't deserve to even look at me, Scott. I knew you always needed someone for you, but I didn't think you'd replace me that fast."

"I didn't replace you."

"Tell that to the future Mrs. Summers." It was Jean's time to grit her teeth. She hadn't really talked to Scott since she was back, and her broken heart had developed, not that she was guilty for that, a truly angry and unconfident reaction to Scott's presence. "Of course you replaced me, Scott. And you want to know what? If Emma disappears tomorrow you'll soon search for someone else. You can't live alone, Scott. Who would've known that the 'fearless leader' of the X-Men can't handle his problems alone."

She didn't want to say that, not like she did anyway. Jean knew that Scott had deep personal problems, and the hurt look he was trying to disguise now proved that her words were true. But certain truths shouldn't be said like that.

His hurt soon turned into anger as he closed the distance between them, holding her hard by her shoulders. Jean jolted in surprise, not expecting him to do that. She used both her arms to press his chest, trying to get free from the firm hold on her arms. Though she also wasn't expecting to feel his body so close to hers, his touch, his smell… and his anger.

"You listen to me now." He said while his strong voice contrasted with the fresh tears running his unshaved face. "You have no idea how it feels." His hold was getting tighter, but she could feel that he was controlling himself to not hurt her. "How it feels to loose someone you deeply care about. To watch the death of someone you love more than your own life and not be able to do anything. To feel powerless, useless and weak." Their bond was quietly rebuilding as the telepath started to receive a wave of emotion. Her own tears joined Scott's. "You're the incarnation of power, life and justice. Don't lie to me because I know that you don't feel the way humans or normal mutants do. You have the cosmic presence of eternal life in your mind, and it always filters your own feelings, Jean. You also have no idea how is to lay down next someone like you, to listen to your internal argues and second personality every time you close your eyes. You are always all powerful, evil or dead. How was I supposed to deal with that?!" He couldn't suppress his strength and shook Jean's body as his voice also exalted, echoing in the kitchen.

"Why…" She said as her hands were still resting on his chest. "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you share with me your fears, Scott? Why are you always closed, always running away from the problems, always…"

"You know that, damn it!" Even with his feelings, Scott controlled his voice this time. "I'm fucking afraid! I was afraid when I first met you, I was afraid when we started to date, I was afraid to propose you, afraid to have a child with you, afraid to loose you…"

Their hearts were accelerating as the confession entered in Jean's mind. She always wanted to hear that from him, to hear the truth. To help him, to pass through the barrier that he built around himself.

They stood quiet for a moment, but neither of them moved from their earlier positions.

Jean bit her bottom lip and looked up at Scott. He swore to himself as the wet green eyes met his shades… he knew he was responsible for those tears. "This…" She said referring to his speech. "This is not an excuse for what you have done, Scott, you-"

"No, it's not." He said as his hands went down to rest on her elbows. "Nothing is."

As Scott closed his mouth, the tension between them started to turn into something else. It was still there, you could almost touch it… but it wasn't anger anymore. The emotions that were shyly restructuring their bond had finished their work, and now Jean could clearly feel Scott's mind in hers, and vice-versa. She raised her hand to caress his face, feeling the honesty in his words. He had been honest with her, and she knew how hard it was for him. She was probably the only person in earth that he'd have shared these thoughts with. Including Emma.

She was about to free his face when his own hand posed on hers. She looked up again and the tension grew between their bodies. She knew that look, the one he was giving her now. It was always present when he wanted to do something, but wasn't sure if he should.

He freed her hand, though Jean didn't move it. The other hand that was still holding her elbow turned for her back, pulling her in a hug. A deep hug as she released her body on his chest.

"I'm sorry." He said quietly, marveled by the smell of her hair. Damn, he hadn't felt that for too long of a time.

She didn't see when it happened; she lost the moment when she turned her body on and her mind off. The only thing that she noticed was when they pulled apart, the warm sensation of his lips still brushing her tongue. The tension between them finally hit its climax, and their breath was mixing as they looked into each others' eyes, choosing if they should follow their hearts or their scruples. Of course the scruples lost.

No more words were necessary as Scott inclined his head again to catch his wife's lips. Jean responded to the kiss in a frantic way, which made Scott want it even more. He held her up and rested her body on the table, and she soon opened her legs to allow him to pressure her.

She quietly moaned as Scott's hands found their way under her shirt and up to her breasts, his mouth soon following the moves. Jean hadn't felt another man's touch on her body for a year, and her womanly side desperately needed to feel it again.

Scott shivered hearing her moan, and couldn't suppress his own cry of pleasure as she responded to his touch while telekinetically undoing his pant's bottom, feeling his need to alleviate the pressure in the area. He rested his head in the spot between her neck and shoulder, his favorite place to rest his head before sleeping when they still shared a bed. And that was what they were planning to do tonight.

'_In the second floor'. _She sent him the answer of his silent question, wondering that they should go to a more private place, considering the kitchen not the best place to make love.

Jean moaned again as he got her in his arms, surprised by his actions, but understanding his rush as his pants were half open now. She also was urging for him, her celibate year being enough to drive anyone crazy.

He didn't wait for the elevator, running up the stairs and thanking God that nobody had seen them. Not that, in this state, he would care anyway. Scott stopped in front of a door, and almost opened it before Jean get to her feet and stop his actions.

'_This is Bobby's room, silly.' _She sent to him, turning for the right direction.

'_Oh.' _He sent her back. _'He wouldn't mind, would he?' _

Jean smiled to herself as she opened the door, remembering how sex used to lighten Scott's mood.

Her smile soon disappeared as he closed the door behind them, catching her lips in the process. The sweet kiss she was expecting rushed to be a hungry one as Scott almost shoved her to the bed. Not that she would complain.

Desire was clear glowing in their faces as Scott pulled her pants and panties down at once. Their feelings were dancing in their minds and Jean used her TK to finish to free them both from the excess of clothes.

Scott smiled to himself as he spread her legs, kissing his way from her pelvis and up to her chin, feeling her shiver under him because of his tickling beard.

Before he could make any other move, her slender hands touched his face, trying to get his glasses.

'I want to see your eyes, Scott'

"But…" He said out loud, pushing her hips closer to him, looking inside her eyes.

He saw the green iris shine in an intense orange bright, showing why his wife was called Phoenix.

"You know I can control…" She said reaching up for a kiss, not wanting to waste any more time before their union. _'Show your eyes for me' _

Her telekinesis delicately removed his glasses, freeing his pale face from its burden. He was still kissing her when his brown eyes opened, now clearly seeing her green, and not red, bright eyes.

Their locked their eyes for a moment, the memories from their earlier life passing through their bond.

"I love you." He said while catching his breath.

"So make love to me."

It wasn't necessary to ask.

The new sensation of his bare face was overwhelming, but another feeling was demanding his attention. Scott used his hands to lift Jean's hips, not stopping to ask her if she was ready, already feeling her answer in his mind.

Jean moaned as she felt the almost forgotten sensation of her lover inside of her; she sought for his head as he started to push into her, her grip firmly behind his neck.

They both needed to feel it, to be sure of their feelings. In their minds there was no space for thoughts, but they both knew they were making a choice. And maybe something else.

Jean's mind started to blur at the same time Scott's thrust went faster. That was a quality that just experienced couples that really knew each other could conquest: the magic of hitting the climax at the same time.

Scott didn't cry her name, like he usually did, when he came in her. Neither did Jean cry for him, they both just shared the experience in another level that just their bond could offer.

Still breathing hard, Scott laid down on her, pillowing his head on her breasts. As soon as she could think of something, Jean started to caress his wet hair, smiling as she felt his hands responding her touch with small circles besides her hips.

"Do you love her?"

She didn't look down at him as she asked the question. Jean knew it could ruin their moment, but she needed to know the truth.

Scott took a deep breath before looking up at her, his face still bare.

"I fell in love." She knew he was being honest. "I can't deny that. But… I don't know if…"

"If you really love her?" Jean met his eyes as the other question got out her mouth.

"Yes." Scott said simply, knowing that she was looking directly into his soul.

"Do I need to ask if you're going to break up with her?" Deeply inside, Jean was afraid of his answer.

"No." He answered again, rolling to his side to lay next to her, opening his arms so she could rest between them; a scene that was so common for both of them. "Now that you're back, I can see that it was a mistake."

Jean still had more questions about his relationship with Emma, but she decided that they could wait; it looked like they would have many more tender moments in the future for that.

"Scott?" She asked some minutes later, already feeling Scott's regular breathing, a sign that he was almost sleeping. "Are you sleeping?"

"I was trying to…" He said quietly, protesting when the naked body between his arms freed from his grip, but soon smiled again when the same body straddled him. His smile was followed by his lover's laugh as she laid down to whisper at his ear:

"I haven't had sex for a year, Scott." She nibbled his ear lobe, sending shivers through his spine. "No way I'm going to stop at the first."

Now totally waking up, Scott smiled for himself again, feeling the sweet lips of his wife on his own thin mouth.

MM

Emma Frost woke up searching for the body of her fiancé. Feeling the cold spot besides her on their bed, she growled remembering of their fight.

She got up the bed while thinking that Scott had slept in the couch again, or even was still out with his motorcycle.

The clock marked six am as she got out the bathroom, ready for another day at work. After all that happened in the other night, she had to talk with Mark. Just talk. She also needed to pass in the laboratory for the regular 'check-up' exam that the X-Men did in time to time. It was so frustrating the numbers of times they found nanotechnology robots in their blood steam. A super-hero life was never easy, was it?

She delicately fixed her perfectly blond hair in the elevator's mirror, heading down to the Laboratory where Hank was. She smiled as the sapphire from her golden ring shined in the mirror; she would get him, it was a promise.

Her white figure entered in the Lab to find the unique blue doctor working with a blood sample. Probably another X-Men had already passed in the Laboratory this morning.

"Good morning, Henry." She said politely as the blue furred doctor turned his chair to face her.

"Oh, I believe it's passed five thirty?"

"A quarter past six, to be more specific." Her white lips smiled for him, making him wonder that maybe she was the only woman in the planet that white lipstick went fine with.

"I suppose you're here for the check-up?" He got up from his chair, offering a sit for her next to his desk. She nodded in response while wondering about the day's stocks.

As it was common for every nice physician, Hank started to talk with Emma while preparing to take a sample of her blood and, in her specific case, a sample of her skin.

"How are you Emma? Are you feeling any dizziness, weird sensation while using your powers, anything?"

"Henry, do you have any idea of how is to be a high classified telepath?" She simply asked, already expecting the negative answer from the doctor. "Well, it can be summarized in migraines, dizziness, and frequent strange thoughts."

"Am I supposed to be worried about that?" He asked as he took off the syringe from her pale skin, now full of the scarlet liquid.

"No." She smiled at him again, preparing for the next part of the exam.

MM

"Oh, hi Jean." Kitty greeted her friend when the latter entered in the kitchen. "I know you probably don't have the-- Scott?" Katherine asked again, seeing that Cyclops had just appeared from behind the redhead. "Jean, Scott? At seven am?" The confusion on her face melted away as the couple blushed, seeing that the young woman had understood what was going on. "You… you two… Oh My God!" Her confusion look just turned into a happy expression as she hugged Jean, who was still quiet, just watching as Kitty almost clapped her hands in a girly moment. "I knew it! Jubilee owns me ten dollars."

"What?" Jean spoke for the first time, not sure if she had listed it right.

"I mean…" The petite brunette turned for the almost empty kitchen, just her Russian boyfriend also having a breakfast there. "Who wants coffee?"

"We'll talk about that later, Kitty." Jean said in a playful tone.

Now that Kitty knew about Jean and Scott, soon the entire Mansion would know about it. Specifically because, for the ballerina, it was a good news.

MM

"Emma, sweetie, did you call for the Worthington?" The cute yet strong voice from Mark M. McMillan, the guy that had too many 'Ms' in his name, and who appeared to be the second most important worker in the Frost Industries, asked Emma as she once more looked at her computer screen.

"No, I asked Tony to do that."

"But you do live at the same place where the blonde chicken does." Mark said while playing with a pen.

"Don't say that. Warren is very nice, if you want to know…"

"But…" Mark knew she was not going to stop there.

"… but he's working in our area." She finished while getting her cell phone. "Isn't there a law that would prohibit him from acting in our area in the market?"

"And you were the one that went to college…" Mark said in his playful tone.

"Yes, and with a doctorate. Now get to work and find something to stop their actions towards our investments."

"That's my girl!" He said preparing to get out of her room, but turning for her once more. "So…" Mark was walking in her direction. The room was quiet, the sound of the crazy New York's traffic too many floors down. "Are you still engaged? Or do I need to talk to this 'Summers'?" He said while approaching her, giving a peck on her pale cheek.

"You stop with that!" She said as her cheeks weren't so pale anymore. "Yes, I am, and I will get married, now get out of here."

"Ahhh, no kiss today?" He asked with his puppy green eyes.

"Just get out." She said again, now in a serious tone.

"Let's see if you'll say that tonight."

"Mark!" She said playfully punching his shoulder. "Don't make me hire some hotter Latin assistant so you won't be necessary anymore."

"No assistant can do what I do with you." He winked at her before closing the door behind him, finally leaving the room.

"Idiot." Emma said playfully as she once more focused her attention on the numbers that her computer was showing her. "Damn blonde chicken…"

MM

Hank was almost done with the check up of all the X-Men. Later that morning Jean, Scott, Ororo and Polaris had also appeared for the exam. Until now, the most interesting fact that he could find was that the Weather Goddess was probably getting the flu. Besides that, nobody seems to show anything abnormal.

Two more samples were still finishing its scan in the computer, where it would show the detailed results.

As the computer continued to work, he turned his attention for the specific samples, such as Polaris' hair, Kitty's atomic level of X-ray and Emma's skin sample. The latter was quite interesting, considering that it was softer than it should be. But that could be easy explained by an abnormal amount of progesterone, which was not uncommon for women at her age. A secret that just an important physician like him could know: Emma Frost's age.

As he was finishing his descriptions of the exams, the characteristic beep from his computer called his attention, showing that the scan was ready. He turned for the device and searched for any valuable information.

Henri's blue eyes went wide as he read the information in front of him. He checked who was the owner of that sample, and that didn't help with his surprise.

"Oh my saint Achiropita!"

He said before rushing out the Laboratory.

MM

**Thank you for reading, please don't forget to review. I really need to know it there are readers out there so I can continue with the fic.**

**Special thanks to ****SkyRogue**** for the proofreading. **

**Maia**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you for all the reviews, guys. They - and consequently you, reviewers - are making this story go on. **

**MM**

"Emma?! Where's Emma?"

The surprised yet concerned voice from Doctor McCoy echoed in the already crowded kitchen.

"Hey, Hank, do you wanna have dinner with us?" The cool voice from Bobby Drake asked the furry man, ignoring his earlier question.

"No, no, thank you Robert." Henry cleaned his throat before asking again, in a calmer voice, as he noticed that a good part of the X-Men were watching him. "Has anybody seen Ms. Frost?"

"At work..." Warren Worthington III replied, adjusting himself on his chair to suppress a swear, his eyes glued on his notebook's screen, which was showing the recent developments from Frost Industries.

"Thank you... thank you Warren." Hank was already leaving for the door he had just entered when a smoother voice called his name.

"Henry?"

"Yes, Jean?" The blue furred physician asked before he was out the room.

"Can I go to the Lab later to check on that experiment we were developing before... well, before." Her coy smile was enough to suggest what she was going to say. Beast responded with a quick smile before turning for the hall again.

"Sure, come by any time you want."

"Okay." She said, but the older mutant was already gone. He sure needed to speak with Emma, and, honestly, considering how he was trying to hide his thoughts, Jean didn't even want to know why.

"Are you okay?" She just realized that her wonderings about Henry McCoy's thoughts had been a little too loud when a warm pair of hands circulated her waist from behind and the soft question was asked.

"Yes. I'm fine Scott." God, she had missed him so much.

"Me too." Another whisper tickled her ear and she laughed lightly remembering of their bond. She turned in his arms to welcome his hug as every pair of eyes in the room tried to ignore the fact that they were together... after all, the White Queen still didn't know anything about it.

**MM**

"Perfect, absolutely perfect!" Mark exclaimed as he exited the elevator, accompanied by one of the most beautiful business woman in New York: Emma Frost.

"Yes, darling, I know. I just wanted to be there to see his face when our lawyer called him." She joined him in his laugher, both thrilled with the day's events. Of course they were just business events, but who knows what the night could bring?

"Are you sure you won't go with us to the club?" Mark asked for the umpteenth time in the short period between their office and the subsoil garage.

"No, I'm just not in the mood for party." Emma said with sincerity. "I need to go home, Scott is-"

"Hey, if you are going to start to brag about that man again I'll just leave."

"Don't be ridiculous." Frost didn't look at him as she said that, waving her hand for the worker at the parking lot of her building.

"Not ridiculous, honey, just jealous." His green eyes winked for her as his reddish hair tried to cover his glance.

"Ms. Frost." Emma's attention once more turned for her side as the well suited man handed her keys.

She nodded a 'thank you' before searching for Mark again. As she turned, she just could see his car already leaving the garage, but his thoughts were clear: he was not going to give up.

Emma took a deep breath as she stopped on the third red light in a row; maybe tonight was not her lucky night. An irritating noise distracted her from the road as her cell phone rang. She so needed to change that ring.

Her eyebrow raised in a questioning way as she opened the device; why was Hank calling her?

"Hello." She said as kindly as her tired voice allowed her.

"_Emma? Oh, good." _The relieved voice from the doctor resounded in the other line.

"Hank? What is going on? Is it any 'X-Men Emergency'?"

"_No... not an X-Men type of emergency. Tell me, are you coming to the Mansion?"_

Getting irritated with his mysterious and almost surrendering to the urge to just read his thoughts, Emma answered again.

"Yes, I'll be there in an hour, I suppose. But what's wrong Hank?"

"_Nothing is wrong, well, I think. I just need to talk with you when you come home and-"_

"Is it about the exam from this morning?" Her voice was not as calm as before, the initial panic about a disease or something worse already swimming in her mind. "Because if you have something to say, Hank, just say it-"

"_Emma, please calm down. You're fine."_

Suddenly the idea of taking a tour of his mind was starting to get quite irresistible.

"Henry."

"_Emma, just-"_

"I am not going to ask again." She adjusted herself on her seat as she heard the other mutant's sigh.

"_Emma... you're pregnant." _

Her delicate hand let the device fall from the tight grip between her fingers as her brain slowly adjusted to the information. A sequence of images, thoughts, fears and joy, not exactly in this order, passed through her mind as she turned off the phone, ignoring the calls from the doctor.

Pregnant. Emma.

Those words were not supposed to be used in the same phrase without a 'not' in the middle of them... not yet, at least.

A cold shiver crossed her body and she jolted as a loud horn from the car behind her brought her back to reality.

The light had turned green; though her mind was nothing clearer than the pure black panic.

**MM**

Hank put the Laboratory's phone back in its place, understanding Emma's reaction as simple surprise at the shocking news. He just hoped that Scott would take it better. And considering his, apparently, relationship with Jean... God, this kid will sure need therapy.

He was about to turn his head back to his computer when an almost hurt voice called his attention.

"Is..." She didn't finish the question. Henry looked at her form, her expression being a magnificent painting of suffering and a bit of anger. "Is it..."

"Jean, I didn't know you were-"

"Is it true?" Her trembling lips managed to ask.

"Yes." The Beast answered in his professional tone. "Emma is expecting Scott's baby." His tone changed as he once more pronounced his friend's name. "Jean, I didn't know you were..."

"Please." She turned her back for him, the tears already running her pale cheek. "You don't need to say anything else." Though her eyes told him sadness, her voice made its best to cover it.

'_Mistakes.' _Jean's thoughts were in the edge of incoherence as she desperately headed for her room, knowing that there she would have time and a warm place to let her sorrows fall down form her eyes. _'Since I got back here all my actions can be summarized as simple mistakes. Maybe the major error was not the actions, but yet the sole act of coming home'._

With that in mind, Jean locked her door, thanking God that she didn't find anyone on her way back to her room.

Principally Scott.

**MM**

**Sorry that the chapter was small, but I diced to make two smaller chapters instead of a huge and tiring one. **

**Okay... I really want to know what you are thinking about the fic now... was this chapter surprising? Not that much? Too dramatic? Were you waiting more blood and maybe some death?... Well, the fic is not done yet, and any critics are welcome. **

**Thank you, don't forget to review.**

**Special thanks to ****SkyRogue ****for the proofreading!**

**Maia**


	12. Chapter 12

**MM**

She had to tell Scott. She had to call her family. She...oh no, she had to sit down. Emma rested her body on one of the hall chairs to let her mind catch up. Three words were echoing through her head, making her thoughts shift in irregular ways.

She was pregnant.

Her hands fell upon her still flat belly, carresing it in a movement that would repeat itself constantiously in the next nine months.

She, Emma Grace Frost, was carring the child of the man she loved.

A smile crossed her white lips as she rose up again. Her energy returned to her. Still smiling, she headed for the elevator, from where she would go to her and Scott's room.

She had to tell Scott.

**MM**

He had to tell Emma.

Scott needed to tell her the truth. He needed to tell her what he really felt. After the night he had been with Jean, a moment he waited for so long, he was sure that his place was, once again, at Jean's side.

He had seen Emma's car entering in the Mansion from the Library's window, and also had felt her telepathy searching for him. Did she have something to tell him? He shook his head as he run the stairs up to their room – no matter what Emma was going to tell him, he knew that his news were more important. Or he thought he knew.

As his hands rushed for the wooden door before him, a familiar voice echoed in the hall. That was where Jean's room was. Maybe she needed…

"Scott?" the strangely warm voice from Emma Frost called his attention from their room. "Honey I... I really need to talk to you."

Scott's heart almost hurt when she smiled for him. What he was going to tell her would surely erase that happiness away.

"Me too," he said entering the room, ignoring the waiting arms she rose to meet him in a forgotten hug. Emma took a step back, feeling the meaning of his actions.

"Did Hank tell you?" she asked in a shaken voice, not wanting to believe that Scott was reacting badly to the fact that she was pregnant.

"Tell me what?" His voice showed curiousity, and her smile was back to her lips as the bad thought left her sensible mind.

"Honey, I know we've had our issues the past few days, but I have something important to tell you..."

The way her eyes were shining, how her smile was still in place and, principally, how musically her voice sounded…something big was happening.

"Emma, I…"

He didn't note when she got closer to him, and when he realized they were already hugging. Scott took a deep breath, inhalating the sweet essence from the yellow hair under his chin, and made the blue eyes meet his visor as his fingers rested under her jaw.

"Emma," he said her name again, but she spoke before him.

"I'm pregnant."

**MM**

Jean looked at the redheaded face in front of her and whished that she looked better than the tired reflex in the mirror. She was not going to wait any longer to do it. She couldn't risk changing her mind.

She was going to leave the Mansion.

Jean Grey had passed through hell in her three decades of life, but she was not going to watch as her true love raises someone else's child. Not when what that woman was going to give Scott something she always dreamed about doing.

Jean didn't suppress one more tear when she reopened the bathroom's door. She didn't deserve this. Not her… not after coming back.

Biting her lower lip, she telepathically caught the psych tension that was Emma Frost entering in the Xavier Mansion. As the familiar psyche of the blonde penetrated her mind, she could feel the small, so tiny and new forming life inside the other's woman womb.

No, she was not going to stay there to watch that child grow.

She once more used her hands to clean her tear-stained eyes. Using her telekinesis she finished packing, and mentally called for a cab. She still didn't know where she was going to go, but she was sure that the Mansion was not a place that she could call home anymore.

The redheaded stretched her arms before opening her door, her black suitcase floating behind her.

"Jean!"

It was a relief that the one calling her name was a woman. She was not ready to face Scott.

"Ororo, please don't try to stop me," she said as normal as her trembling voice allowed her.

The Weather Goodness stopped to catch her breath before speaking again.

"I just talked to Hank, Jean…I'm sorry."

Storm's blue eyes were searching her own green orbs, but Jean nodded and turned her back for her friend.

"You should be happy for him." Her voice was dry and weak, showing the true emotional condition of her heart.

"Jean… please think about what you're doing. Maybe this…"

"Don't touch me!" Her fragile control almost slipped as the redheaded avoided the African's touch.

"Jean…" Ororo tried again, but her friend was already going to the stairs. "Jean you're not emotionally stable to go anywhere."

Storm outlined a smile when Jean stopped walking and turned to look at her, but her hope soon disappeared when she noticed the telepath's expression.

"Stable? Emotionally stable?" Jean said slowly, taking small steps in the other mutant's direction. "I don't have any idea of what is to be emotionally stable since I'm eleven, Ororo! I don't have the option to turn off the thoughts or feeling from the other people for a long time now. Do you know how it feels?"

Ororo was about to say something, but Jean cut her off.

"Oh, please, don't even try to argue! It was a rhetorical question!" She finished her sentence with a sarcastic small laugh before continuing. "I'll never be stable, Ororo, but I was happy. And do you want to know why? Because unlike everything I heard during my childhood, I found someone that would love me for what I was, and not for what I could do. I was happy. I almost died more times than I can count, but _I was happy_. But I was never completely satisfied because something was missing…right, sister?"

Ororo couldn't answer, but knew what Jean meant.

The suitcase that was peacefully floating behind Jean's back suddenly crushed against the wall, almost breaking both the wall and the hard plastic.

"A child, Ororo…a damned child! I whished to have a kid with Scott since before we were married and he always denied it for me! When we finally decided to have a child - and don't look surprised – I was not there! I was trapped at a fucking Island fighting with my powers to come back here, and what did I find, Ororo?"

Jean's angry was melting into sadness and humiliation as the woman started to knee, her legs too weak to support the burden over her shoulders.

"The man that I love almost married with another woman, and now that I thought we were going to have a second chance, this woman…" Her sobs were not letting her finish, and now she didn't fight against the quiet hand that rested on her shoulder. "This woman is going to have his baby! I…I can't do this. Please understand that I can't watch this. I can't, Ororo. I can't do this…"

"Oh sister…" Ororo also kneeled to hug her friend.

After five minutes of understanding silence, Jean looked at Ororo again, their eyes at the exact same level.

"The cab is here," she said quietly, hoping that her friend would support her cause now.

"Come…" Storm was the first to stand up and helped Jean to do the same. "I'll help you with the luggage."

**MM**

A son or a daughter.

That was resting right under his calloused hand that was slowly pressing Emma's flat belly.

Scott didn't say a word after Emma declaring that she was expecting. He didn't think it was necessary. For a moment all his worries disappeared, and just the idea of becoming a father was in his mind. His big hand almost covered Emma's abs, and the telepath was still silent, but happy in a way of his reaction.

"How…" Scott didn't take his hands off her body, but his eyes met her in a quick glance, "For how long?"

"Hank figured out after the last exam... Honestly, I had no clue." Her voice was still sweet, and it was the shy tears that threatened to fall from her eyes that made Scott remember about his true objective.

"Oh my God…" he said as the panic started to form in his mind. "Emma, I…oh God."

"Scott, I know…"

"Wait, no, I…oh shit!" Scott passed his hand over his face to try to think about something. What was he supposed to do now? How Jean would react to this? How…how was he going to be a father?!

"Scott…" the blonde said again, taking his hands in hers. "Maybe we…"

A strong noise of something braking in the other corridor made the couple look at the direction. Both Scott and Emma felt the telepathic wave emanating from the responsible of the noise.

"Jean…" They said at the same time, with different reactions: Scott's panic increased, knowing that Jean probably knew about Emma's pregnancy; Emma's head winced at the psych intention, feeling Jean's sadness and humiliation.

"Emma, I need…I need to think about this. I need to…" Scott could barely breathe. Confusion racked his mind. But he couldn't deny one feeling behind all the panic…happiness.

"I see, you need time," Emma said while taking a step away from Scott, her hands massaging her temples.

"Thank you. But Emma…" Before leaving, Scott made her look at him again, and faced his responsibility. "This child will have a father, I promise."

He didn't wait for her response, afraid of what it would be.

He had to find Jean.

**MM**

**Sorry that it took me so long to update, I had some health problems. I know you guys will understand :)**

**Thank you for reading, and next chapter will have more of this crazy confusion of emotions that this fic is becoming!**

**Don't forget to review!**

**Maia **


	13. Chapter 13

**MM**

The weeks that followed were not easy for any of the X-Men. It was particularly difficult for their leader – who was excused from that function until his fist was completely healed – Scott Summers.

Scott was quiet, more silent than the time when he was just known as the shy Slim. A time where he was alone at the Mansion, before he met the others students, that is, before Jean.

He knew that the others still talked to her, especially Ororo, the Professor and Hank. He knew she was sometimes on the phone with them, and two days ago he had surprised Hank and Ororo discussing Jean's 'condition' – that was the word they had used – in the Laboratory. But Scott also knew one thing: she was not asking for him.

He had tried to call her parents, to extract some information from Xavier, but nothing was cooperating with him; Jean did not want to see him.

As this thought entered once again in his mind, Scott took another sip from the cool wine he was holding. It was a wonderful night to remember about the past, but it always brought him to the present, to reality. And his reality could be summarized in two words: Emma Frost.

He was trying, he honestly was trying. But it is very hard to stabilize a relationship with Emma, principally if you still love someone else, and let's not forget that the White Queen was pregnant.

He finished his wine in one gulp before standing up. She was upstairs, in her room. And something in the back of his mind was telling him that she was angry, but lately she was always angry. Taking a deep breath, Scott headed for the elevator - he didn't feel like climbing the stairs.

Slowly, he crossed the distance between the elevator and Emma's dark wooden door. He stood there, glancing at the worked wood before opening; it was like the piece of furniture was mocking him, like if it knew that he was about to pass through a difficult argument. Damn door.

"Emma?" He entered saying, ready to leave if she was having one of her 'hormones crises'.

"Close the door after you're in." She had just taken a shower, or at least she looked like it. She was walking out her in suit bathroom, her white robe covering her wet body. Emma was holding her cell phone, which meant work, which meant stress and headache, which finally meant that the door was right. "Is anything wrong, Scott?"

She was acting naturally in his presence, a good sign. "No, actually I just wanted to see how you're doing and maybe we could talk about the small trip we're taking next week."

"Sure, but we can talk about it later. I just finished an important meeting arrangement, and my head is not cooperating." Not only she was talking very normally around him, but she was also acting. Emma ignored the fact that Scott was present and took off her robe, heading to her closet, where she would search for something more comfortable to pass the night.

Whatever that Scott was going to say literally died in his mouth at the sight of her naked body; not because she had the best body money could buy, but because she was starting to… to show, to glow somehow.

This thought didn't pass unnoticed by the present telepath, who continued her walk for the closet, her back not showing her triumphant smile.

"Anything else, Scott?" Her voice came from the other side of the corner that Scott had just watched her turn, and it made him reorganize his thoughts.

"No, no… I was just…" He took a deep breath before organizing something to say.

"What?" Now formerly wearing her nightgown, Emma emerged from the closet, her face as pale as the white loose fabric covering her body.

"I was just noticing that you're starting to show it, I mean, your belly is still flat, but you are… are glowing." Scott admitted shyly.

"You really think so?" Her voice had shifted to a different tone, almost innocent, as she turned for the mirror next to Scott, both her hands now caressing her body.

"Yes." Scott said again, allowing his thoughts to imagine his future life with his son or daughter.

Emma's mind was back to reality as she looked up for him again, her voice's tone back to normal. "Do you want to feel it?"

Scott outlined a denial, but couldn't conclude it as the telepath spoke again.

"It's not just because we're not together, at least for now, that you can't be the father of this child. Please," She steeped closer to him, one of her manicured hands reaching for his strong one, "feel it."

Her abs were still fighting to stay flat, but you could already feel that they wouldn't stay like that forever. The skin was soft, softer than he remembered from the last time he had touched her like this, so intimately. An unplanned smile was already on his lips before he could notice it. His hands slipped from her belly to her back in a hug that neither of them saw coming. Emma's arms reached for Scott's neck and he allowed her to touch him back. "You can move on from someone that marked your heart." Her words were as soft and warm as both of her hands on his face. Scott took a deep breath and reached her hands with his own, releasing her body.

"I need to go." He said firmly, not wanting to give any expectations about his acts. He excused himself and exited the room before Emma could form an answer. As the door closed behind him, her last phrase echoed in his troubled mind: _'You can move on from someone that marked your heart'. _

"Yes." He agreed breathlessly, heading for the stairs. "But I can't move on from someone that marked my mind." He admitted to himself, remembering how deep his mind was connected with Jean's, also how roughly that bond was shattered. Shaking his head, he just continued to walk, the stairs being a plausible choice now.

As Scott entered in the kitchen to get a glass of water and try to clam himself a little to see if, for the first time in the week, he could finally get some sleep, another X-Men joined him.

"Oh, hi Scott. I believe your fist is better?" The kind resident doctor asked, also searching for a calming glass of water.

"Yes, thank you Hank." He answered while sitting at the opposite direction of the blue doctor. Every time Scott saw him, or Ororo, he couldn't stop thinking that they were still talking to Jean, and maybe he could get some information… "Hank?"

Beast knew where that question was going to, and honestly he didn't want to start an argument, not after what he has just discussed with Ororo in the Med Lab a couple of days ago.

"Yes, Scott?" The experienced X-Men said, already waiting for the upcoming question.

"Can you…" Scott left his glass on the table, passing a hand on his face, which was a difficult thing with his glasses on, before locking his eyes with the blue orbs in front of him. "Can you just tell me if she is alright?"

Hank took a deep breath before taking another sip of the cool water, his expression the old 'I knew it'. "She's fine. She just… needs time. And…"

"And?" Scott asked leaning his body forward, wanting any hint of Jean's life.

"She's making a choice, a decision. But I can assure you that she'll search for you when she'll be ready."

"Thank you Hank." The younger man said in a tiring voice.

Hank put his glass on the sink before heading for the door, feeling that Scott needed some time alone.

"And Scott?" The blue furred mutant said before exiting. "Try to get some sleep, you need it."

"I know." Scott said while he tried to smile, almost failing at it. As the figure of his friend disappeared behind the door, he spoke to himself. "I just wish it was the only thing I needed."

**MM**

Leading a huge Industry was not easy. But it gets much more difficult when you're pregnant.

That was what Emma Frost, the head of the Frost Industries and Companies, was thinking as she flushed the toilet at five in the morning. Her hand was still holding the cell phone that had received an important message - that she would just find out when at least five of her advisors were in her office explaining exactly why she was awaken at five a.m., principally now that her nauseas were haunting her so badly.

Taking a deep breath to be sure that her stomach was empty, Emma glanced at the device again. Nice. A re-scheduled meeting at seven o'clock. She didn't know why they continued to reorganize her agenda when she just showed up in the building at least at eight o'clock – after all, when you reach the top, you can have some advantages.

She was about to turn off the thing when it started to ring again. Still on the bathroom's floor, Emma rested her back on the wall, deciding if she should get that call or not. With a small hint of a button she ignored the unexpected call, reassuring herself that her decision was already made. Getting up, she started to get ready for her day, after all she was not going to sleep after that.

On the forgotten phone, still on the bathroom's floor, you could read the name of the caller: Mark McMillan.

**MM**

"Look at you!"

She indeed looked fine. Hank wasn't kidding when he said that she looked better than the week before.

"Hey, sis." Storm greeted Jean in a warm hug. They had chosen a know cafeteria from New York to meet, somewhere that was not far from both of them.

"So, tell me, any news?" Ororo asked softly, waving for the waiter to bring them the menu of the lunch.

"No, life gets pretty boring when you're not fighting in a costume."

"That's for sure, but you are always welcome to come back."

"Don't start." Jean said seriously while smiling, her green eyes warning the Weather Controller. "What about you, any news in the Mansion?"

"Everybody keeps asking for you… principally him." Ororo said as casually as she could, ordering two burgers for the waiter next to them to prevent Jean from responding her comment.

"I'll go next week to… you know, solve some things with Hank and maybe the Professor."

"Jean you…" Seeing where the conversation was getting, Storm lowered her tone of voice, leaning her body nearer to her friend, two white bangs covering her face in the move. "You really should think about this. It's not fair to you, and I don't think it is to Scott."

"I already made my decision, Ororo. It's my problem, not his."

"I disagree." Ororo said as she got a sip from the diet coke that the waiter had left on their table.

"Please" The telepath also used a more serious tone "Let's not argue about this again. I just want to know if everything in the Mansion will be… alright for my visit next week."

"Sure. They will go on a trip." Storm was delicate as not to repeat the names, knowing that her friend's reaction was still delicate. "But Jean, you… you really should be honest with him."

"I already made my decision and I'm not sure about anything yet." Her voice was as cold as the dark green that her eyes became as she said it. Nothing was worst than the female wrath.

"Okay, I'll stop." Ororo said at the same time as their burgers got to the table, both looking and smelling very good. "So…" The African said between a bite and of her vegetarian burger and diet coke "how is your new apartment?"

**MM**

**Thank you all for reading the fic, and please don't forget to review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**MM**

"I'm coming!"

"You've been saying that for the last forty minutes!" Scott said as he stood right next to Emma's bed, her suitcase still open on the furniture. "It's just a weekend, you don't need to take all this stuff!"

"Scott Summers." Her head appeared from the bathroom, where she was finishing packing her personal belongings. "I'm the woman you got pregnant, so if we're going on a trip you don't have the right to hurry me up! Instead of just waiting there as a statue, why don't you start carrying the luggage to the hangar!?"

"There is more than one?!" He asked, his temper also tempting to fail. When Emma's eyebrow tightened on her blue eyes, Scott feared that she would use her telepathy to bug him… again. "Damn hormones…" He mumbled as he got two suitcases from the floor and headed towards the door, from there to the elevator.

As the metal door closed in front of him, it allowed some time alone for the man. Emma was being so… Emma lately. So bitchy. Alright, she was pregnant, alright she was the head of a huge company, but please, he was just a man! He couldn't do half of the things she was demanding him to. Like this trip. Why are they going to Boston again? Oh yeah, her business and family. Huh. Family. Like Emma Frost had anything related to her family besides her last name. Her brother, that was her strongest connection to any other Frost, was locked away in a Sanitarium. The one responsible for that was her father, who didn't accept the fact that his only son was homosexual…

"What a family…" He mumbled to himself as the metal door reopened, leaving him at the hangar floor. And that was the crazy family he was about to get into.

Scott froze letting both the suitcases he was carrying hit the floor as this thought crossed his mind. He was getting into the Frost family. Not that he was still going to marry Emma, they hadn't discussed it yet – and he was totally avoiding it- but his child will have an uncle at the Sanitarium, a crazy grandfather that could kill for money anytime, a doped grandmother, and let's not talk about Emma's sisters… because if you think Emma Frost is bitchy, try to meet Cordelia and Adrienne… **#** Scott had never personally met them, but just by the shared moments when Emma told him about her past, when they were still close, he could perfectly imagine both of them. And, back to the shocking part, was he entering in this family? Did he want to be part of this… mafia, that could describe the Frosts better than the word 'family'…

Not that Emma was willing to go meet them too, hell no, she was going to Boston for a business meeting with one of her subsidiaries and some other guy from the New York office… the fact that they would pay a small visit to the Frost Mansion was just for her to say anything along the lines of 'hey, I'm pregnant, this is the child's father, and if you two die, the child will be one of the heirs, okay?'

Scott's musings were interrupted as the elevator door reopened behind him, revealing a composed Emma Frost. She would be perfect if it wasn't for the light effect of the morning sickness that every pregnant woman felt in the first trimester.

"There is one more in the room." She said while passing through him, heading for the already prepared Black Bird III.

"Sure." Scott said before cleaning his throat, choosing to ignore the questions and wonderings that his mind was leading him to.

**# **I know, I know, old fans are saying, 'hey, I read Emma killing Adrienne!', yes, me too, but here I didn't mention the Massachusetts Academy, which is the main reason why Emma killed her sister. Let's stay in the fic and say that Adrienne is still alive, working as a model, as she always wanted. And the fans that had no idea about what I just said… scratch that from your mind, and just keep reading! ;D

**MM**

"I hope your trip was fine." Hank said, later that day, in the sunny kitchen that for an unknown reason was full of life.

"It's not that long." Jean smiled for his friend, accepting the cup of coffee that he offered her. "I just chose to get here a little later to be sure that, you know, they weren't here."

"Emma and Scott are already in Boston by now." Professor Xavier said, his voice muffed by a yawn and a longer blink as he spoke again. "And I believe that they will need to go to a pharmacy first, Emma didn't feel quite well during the flight."

"That's what happens when you're pregnant." A minute of silence followed Jean's phrase, and Ororo soon changed the topic.

"So, Jean, are you planning to go to the Lab now or to run a section with Professor?" The whiteheaded woman asked, her blue eyes showing more pity than her voice.

"I guess telepathy is always in the first place." She took another sip from the coffee before heading to Xavier's direction. "Shall we?"

**MM**

Boringness.

That was what Scott was feeling as he patiently waited for Emma in the waiting room of the Frost Subsidiary of Boston. Boringness. Emma said it wouldn't take more than two hours, and it has been three hours since Scott had started walking around the room. He had already counted and analyzed every painting in the luxurious room, had drank around half a liter of coffee, gone to the bathroom three times, and Emma was still there, surrounded by suited man discussing the stock market and plans of investments.

Boringness.

When the clock on the wall – his best mate in the last five hours – marked six o'clock, he gave up and walked out of the room, his coat on his hands. He needed some fresh air, and with Emma's telepathy, it wouldn't take long for her to find him.

Except in missions in the middle of the night, Scott had never been to Boston. But no matter in which American city you were at, it was never difficult to find a nice bar. And that is what he found after ten minutes of rounding in the rental car around the center of the city, where the Frost Building was. As he sat in the bar's table, a great place, by the way, he still could see the glassy building of which the mother of his child was the owner. The fact that she had almost stolen that from her father after some… family meeting (again, it was more like a mafia!) just made him ask for two beers instead of one.

A part of him still couldn't believe that he was going to be a father. When younger, he dreamed about this moment, but with someone else.

One more beer.

The fact that Emma was carrying his child didn't make him feel bad, a part of him really fell in love with the blonde, but the time that it happened couldn't have been worst.

Jean had been back… back to his arms, Christ, back to his bed… and he had decided that he would stay with her, forever.

Another beer.

And than she was gone. Again. But he couldn't blame her, not after… not after the pregnancy. Scott couldn't blame Jean for not accepting him knowing that another woman was carrying his child… a child that he knew Jean wanted more than anything. And so did he.

"Sorry."

The voice came from behind, and he didn't notice her psyche coming, like he used to with another telepath.

"It's okay, it's your work." He welcomed Emma with a kiss on her cheek, allowing her to sit right next to him. "I believe you're hungry." Scott said leaning a hand on her stomach, almost feeling her shiver under his touch.

"And I believe you're slightly drunk." She smiled back for him, sweetness in her voice as she caught the musings in his head.

"Slightly." He smiled back to her.

Scott was vulnerable, and now was her time to get her man back. "If you don't mind, I wanted to go to the hotel, have dinner there. After such long hours of business, I always like to… relax, a bit." Her tone was sweet, and it didn't take long to convince Scott.

They rode back to the hotel in the Industry's limo, Scott not feeling like driving after his beers. He didn't want to risk anything with a pregnant woman at his side. They were silent in the back seat of the car, and Emma took advantage of that to rest her head on his shoulder. Scott accepted the gesture, also welcoming the manicured hand that searched for his in the leather of the limo's bench. It was incredible how her mood could switch within hours.

He guided them both to their suite in the five star hotel, and Scott knew the place was familiar for Emma, he just didn't know why.

"I hope you don't mind that I've got the suite and not two separate rooms…" She said tiredly, already heading for the in suite bathroom, hoping to find a prepared aromatic bathtub that she had asked for.

"It's okay Emma. It's better, considering how you felt this morning, if you need any help I'll be near." Scott said rationally, heading for his suitcase to change his glasses.

"Okay…" Her answer was calm as she closed the bathroom's door.

After changing to his goggles, Scott took off his shoes and lay on the bed, undoing the first couple of buttons of his shirt. He took a deep breath as his mind was still feeling the 'slightly drunk' effect of his stay at the bar. Tomorrow, Sunday, they would go to the Frost Mansion, at 8:00 o'clock. Interesting that they had to mark a visit to go there; this family sure needed some kind of therapy.

He was almost dozing off when she got back to the room, now wearing a comfortable nightgown. Scott reopened his eyes when a soft hand rested on his chest, followed by a head that leaned against his shoulder. He took a deep breath before responding to the touches, her smell making him smile. Scott touched her hand on his chest, his other one under his own head to provide a pillow. He didn't protest when she moved both of their hands, going to rest on her belly, the soft material of her silk nightgown separating their bare skin.

"Emma…" He tried to say, but her gestures were her answer. Slowly, calmly, she laid his hand there, and then reached for his face, caressing his cheekbone.

The kiss was as soft as her touches, and Scott didn't respond to it for an entire minute, just feeling her lips on his, his hand on his child. He closed his eyes as he opened his mouth, allowing her to deepen the kiss, his hands still on her abdomen. The kiss continued as one of Emma's legs covered his, and she was preparing to straddle him when Scott reopened his eyes.

It was not her eyes, or her skin. Not even her sweet touches and smell that reminded him. It was her hair. Emma's still wet hair from her bath was darker, and behind his scarlet lenses they reminded him too much of a shade of red for him to do this. The hand that was under his head went to her shoulders, and the other that was on her belly joined in a symmetric way her other shoulder, both pulling her lightly apart.

"I need to take some air." She felt his breath as he said it, rejection in every one of his moves. Emma slightly nodded, turning on the bed to free his body. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call." His back was facing her as he sat on the bed, getting his shoes from the floor. She didn't answer again, her small nod being her only response. As he exited the room, Emma rested her head on the pillow again, finally allowing one tear to drop from her icy blue eyes.

She could have lost the battle, but there was still a war to fight.

**MM**

"How was upstairs with Charles?" Hank asked as he cleaned the inner part of Jean's elbow, from where he had just taken a sample of blood. "You took longer than I thought. You're pale. Are you well, my friend?" The kind doctor asked, and Jean showed him a small smile.

"I'm fine Hank. Charles just wanted to be sure that everything up here was controlled."

"And was it?" Hank asked as he headed for his computer and other machines from the Laboratory.

"Of course." The redheaded smile widened.

"My turn." Ororo, who was behind her, replaced Jean on the reclined chair the telepathy was sitting, also extending her lean arm to Henry, who had just finished adjusting Jean's sample to get the result in a few minutes. "You have problems with your telepathy, I have with lightning." The three of them laughed at Ororo's remark, and Jean searched for a chair to sit next to both of her friends.

"Believe, sis, lightning is much better than an uncontrolled telepathy."

"Say that to yourself, the last big one that hit the Mansion let our power off for three days." Hank said while using a syringe to extract the Weather Controller's blood.

"Three days without History Channel? Wow, that must have been very hard for you, Hank." Jean said seriously while Storm was already laughing at their furry friend.

"Very funny." Henry mumbled before repeating the same process he did with Jean's sample with Ororo's.

"We missed that." Storm said, reaching for her friend's hand. Jean accepted the touch, smiling in response.

"We're not going to discuss this again." She didn't lock her eyes with either of her friends, not sure if her voice was going to stay firm if she did that.

"Ladies, if you could wait for more a couple of minutes, I'll be able to say exactly what is wrong with your respective powers." Beast stated after the uncomfortable minute of silence.

"But I'm free to keep my daily Danger Room sections, right?" Ororo asked.

"Sure, but avoid doing it with Bobby and Polaris. Both the humid air and the magnetic interference can have unplanned effects on your weather powers."

"Thank you, and speaking of which I need to attend one DR section right now. Logan offered to be my partner, so if anything goes wrong, his healing factor can handle it."

"I'll prepare a bed, in any case." Hank smiled back to her, his strangely small glasses making a unique combination with his feral features.

"Well, good bye Jean." Ororo said as they both got up. "I hope you show up here more often."

"Me, too." The redhead said honestly, but both of them knew what and when she could or could not feel comfortable around the School grounds.

They hugged, Jean sending a last telepathic message before letting Storm go, who headed towards the elevator.

Changing to a more serious tone, Hank spoke when they were alone in the Med Lab.

"Are you going to wait or go?"

"The cab is already coming, and I already know it." Jean said calmly, hoping that her voice was still, different from her thoughts.

"Jean… we will always be here."

"I know… now I have to go Hank." She also hugged her friend and whispered on his ears "Don't mention to both of them that I was here. I don't want to interrupt anything or to fuss with his life."

"Doctor's promise." Henry said lightly, his humorous tone tainted by Jean's quiet voice.

Jean didn't say a word as she made her way back to the elevator, from there to the living room. She found some friends on her way, but hid her presence with her telepathy, not in the mood of talking or sharing news.

The cab was already in the front door, waiting for her. She used her telekinetic to hold her still as she stepped down the stairs, her legs not as steady as she thought they were.

"Annandale-on-Hudson, please." She said calmly as she entered in the cab, watching as the driver nodded and started the car.

As the driver was completely focused on the road, she allowed herself to rest her head on the window, watching the Mansion getting far away from her view. Seeing that, she took a deep breath…

…and finally started to cry.

**MM**

**Thank you for reading, please let your feedback, they are very important to any author and I'm no different. I want to know what you guys are thinking about the story, and depending on the reviews I'll get, I'll make a poll about this story in my profile. **

**Special thanks to SkyRogue for the proofreading.**

**Maia**


	15. Chapter 15

**MM**

After what had just happened, he needed some fresh air.

Scott's thoughts were confusing him. He still didn't know how to react to the recent events, such as Emma offering herself to him. He still didn't want to think about this confused soap opera that his life had become, and just needed to clear up his mind.

"One beer please," he asked as the weird waitress smiled at him. Her yellow smile just added to with the old air of the pub that the taxi driver had driven him to.

What a way to work out your problems: drinking. Huh. Logan was influencing him, that just could be that.

"Hey, kid, do ya have a light?" a voice called from behind his wooden table. It just reminded him too much of Logan to ignore. Scott turned his chair to face an older man, obviously not from Boston, gesturing with a cigarette.

"I'm sorry, I don't smoke."

"Huh." The older man grinned, another action very similar to the Canadian, his gruff voice mixing with the low country music from the bar. "Maybe not now, but you should start."

The gray haired man grinned again, referring to Scott's behavior and the beer that the brunette waitress had just brought to his table. The same weird smile on her wrinkled face.

"I don't know what happened—" Scott drank a long gulp from his cold beer as he listened to the man once more, "—but good luck with yer girl."

Scott raised his eyes from his beer to lock his shades with the deep brown eyes of the stranger. "How do you...?" He started to say, a small laugh already cutting him question.

"Again, kid, ya need a smoke."

"Yeah..." Scott allowed himself to smile for the first time since he had gotten to the pine-smelling bar. "Maybe you're right." He gestured for the man to sit next to him, ready to share some beers and smoke and talk about his girl... better, his girls.

**MM**

Another Asian taxi driver brought him back to the hotel – he definitely couldn't drive. His way up to the room was clumsy, principally because he didn't remember which room he and Emma were in. After some minutes of wondering – inside the elevator as the guests kept entering and exiting – he remembered the floor, and then was just a lucky guess for right room.

With the help of one of the hotel's staff members – who just looked the number on Scott's key-card – he finally found his room, and gave a fifty dollars bill as a tip. He'd discover it wasn't five dollars tomorrow.

He tried to recompose himself as he opened the door, quietly to not awake the sensible telepath. His body and clothes reeked of smoke, and he hoped that Emma's sense of smell was not as accurate as her mind. Scott lightly coughed as the bathroom door opened, freezing when he heard a body moving on the bed. After a minute of silence, Emma seemed to have fallen asleep again, mumbling something along the lines of the stock market. Scott entered in the bathroom and locked the door, the dizziness from the beer and smoke still fogging his mind.

After a pleasant bath and a not-so-pleasant puking – courtesy of the beers and smokes – he exited the bathroom and headed for the bed. He noticed that the nightstand clock was marking four in the morning. He checked for his goggles and closed his eyes, ignoring the screaming thoughts in the back of his head. In four hours he would meet the official Mr. And Mrs. Frost, parents of the woman he, not actually meaning to, knocked up. Scott took a deep breath and tried to think pleasant thoughts about how the introductions would go...

Screw it, they will kill him.

**MM**

"Have you been smoking?" Emma asked with a wrinkled nose as she and Scott entered in the Frost Mansion, the butler and two other men guiding them. Scott cleared his throat as a response, noticing that the butler had eyed him, knowing that he would be in trouble. Damn penguin dressed man.

Scott also noticed that he wasn't the only target of the bald man in front of them, no, he was also checking on Emma. Not 'checking on' Emma, his eyes were more of curiosity than anything else.

"Don't you know the staff from here?" Scott asked quietly, ignoring Emma's first question.

"Oh, Scott, the staff who worked here when I still lived here are long dead." She didn't even look at him, her white lips curving into a small grin as the hoped effect showed in the three men's face around them – fear.

"C'mon, you're not that old."

"No, darling." She turned for him, stopping on her tracks as they were heading for the meeting room – not the 'family room', we should mark here. "But no one can take a long time in the Frost Mansion and stay alive."

A smiled crossed her lips as the three members of the Frost's staff around them coughed, afraid that she might be right.

Scott observed the men's actions as they entered in a new hall. As they walked, a sudden and new sensation of need crossed him, and his right fist – still a little injured from his last encounter with Jean – closed as his mind shot the desire to smoke through him. The old man from the bar was right, Scott definitely needed a smoke.

Trying to ignore this feeling, Scott looked around the hall where they were and noticed a peculiarity. Hundreds of pictures filled the luxury detailed walls. The President, wait, no, Presidents, Governors and other politic figures, all smiling while shaking Mr. Frost's hand. The leader of the X-Men was marveled with the number of important figures, all looking small when close to the founder of the Frost Company. It just showed that there was more about the Frost family than Scott knew, or cared to know.

The peculiarity that caught his attention: there were no pictures of the family. No, wait, there was a painting of Mr. and Mrs. Frost. He could see it in one of the parallel rooms of the hall. But he didn't see any of the children. It was as if they were not part of this empire.

As they turned a corner where a model of a 19th century clock stood, Scott saw one picture that might be the closest he would find of the Frost entire family in the house.

Mr. Frost was still young, no grey hairs on his dark brown head. The person he was shaking hands with Scott didn't know, but judging from the red sash he was using, it was the Boston mayor from two decades ago. But what caught Scott's attention wasn't the two men in the photograph; it was the person in the background. A skinny, coy, serious girl, also wearing an appropriate suit, was standing behind Winston Frost. Her light brown hair was almost hiding her watery blue eyes, which were showing her indifference for her father's conquest.

"Emma..." Scott mumbled to himself, a small smile crossing his thin lips as he recognized who would be the future of the Frost Industries.

"Yes?" He didn't realize he had spoken it out loud, but when the blonde in front of him turned her head with a questionable look, he soon had to find an answer.

"Nothing I just... am trying to imagine how you grew up in such a house."

"Don't need to imagine it..." She said as they turned the last corner and was now facing an opened door. A couple sat in front of a tea table inside the new room. "You'll have an idea after this morning."

**MM**

"Please, Jean, you can stay here!" John Grey tried to argue with his younger daughter, but she had made her decision.

"I'm sorry, Dad, but Mom is right, I can't stay here." The redheaded woman did not even look up from her suitcase to look in her father's brown eyes as he stood on her door, in the house where she spent a part of her childhood.

"Jean..." The gray-haired man took a step on his daughter's direction, hoping to call her attention. "For more than twenty years you were away from us. We learned to live with that, but we always missed you. After all that happened..." he touched her shoulder, but the woman still refused to turn back to him, "and it is happening, you'll need a family support."

"Thank you." She finally turned, closing her black suitcase, and hugged her father. "But I can't stay here. I'll always pay a visit, but now I just... I just need some time alone."

"Did you talk to Scott?" Mr. Grey was never Scott's number one fan, but he did have sympathy for the man.

"I said that I need some time _alone_." Jean cleaned her throat. "In two weeks I'll come here to pass the Sunday. If you want to visit before that, you can come over to see where I'm living now."

John took a deep breath before hugging the younger of his girls once more. "You won't change your mind, will you?" His eyebrows raised above his glasses on his forehead as he asked the question, a smile threatening to form on his lips.

The same lips opened in a smile in the redheaded face, catching her father's thoughts. "No."

"Never give up on your decisions, that's my girl." He smiled now as he offered to help to carry her luggage. "Even if it is the wrong decision."

Before Jean could answer, her mother appeared at the door, half of her still lean body inside the room.

"Jean, the cab is here." Elaine Grey said in her powerful voice, one of the qualities that her daughter shared with her.

"Okay." Jean took a deep breath as she watched her father carrying her luggage out of the room. "Let's go."

**MM**

"You called us just a few months ago with this 'marriage' talk, and now you are pregnant?"

His voice was as cold as his eyes, even not being the icy blue his daughter showed as she endured his critics.

"Yes, Winston," Emma emphasized her father's name as she crossed her legs, a stern expression on her pale face. "I'm pregnant. In the next eight months you will be a grandfather."

"Huh." The older man mumbled under his thin lips.

Scott watched as father and daughter continued their 'dialogue' and felt useless as Emma leaded the conversation. But it wasn't just his fault; Winston Frost had barely looked at him when they entered in the English style decorated room. Emma's mother, who hadn't spoken a word since they had announced the news, was eyeing the window blankly. For a moment Scott wondered about her behavior, but soon he remembered. Hazel Frost was a strongly addicted to medications. Considering how her husband acted, it was not a surprise that she was always using those drugs.

While Scott was lost in his thoughts, Winston stood up from his leather chair, his back toward the young couple.

"Are you two still going to get married?"

As his question echoed in the room, he sighed again when he had no response.

"Mr. Frost-"

"I just feel sorry for this kid." Winston interrupted Scott's sentence and turned to face Emma, who was still fully composed on her chair, her body as an elegant statue... a diamond statue. "Where in the world do you get the idea you'll be a good mother, Emma?"

Terrible words have terrible power. For a moment, all the coldness in Emma's eyes and posture faded. The frozen Emma melted in the deep humiliation before her father as she desperately tried not to cry in front of him, all of this in a question of seconds. Scott finally understood. After all these years... she still wanted his approval.

"I'm sorry to disagree, Mr. Frost. Emma is an excellent woman and will be an excellent mother-"

"Please, Mr. Summers." The older man continued, as if almost enjoying his daughter's reaction to his words. "This conversation is between my daughter and I."

"Scott." Emma's voice was firm again as she, using a single word, asked for him to just listen.

"If I were you," Mr. Frost continued to address Scott, with this one last comment, "I'd hope for a boy. Because if it'll be a girl, there is a chance that she'll be like the mother."

"Enough." No matter what kind of rules ran in that house, Scott was not going to let the mother of his child being humiliated so heartlessly like this. "Let's go Emma."

"So soon?" Hazel said for the first time in the morning, obviously not aware of the situation around her.

"I'm sorry Mrs. Frost, we have to go now."

Still smiling, Winston spoke again. "You really don't know her, boy. You don't know who Emma Frost really is."

Scott felt a really strong urge to smoke again as the white toothed smile reflected on his shades, but another part of him would be pleased if he could just take his visors off.

They were dismissed with, "You know the way out."

As he spoke these words, the door behind Scott's and Emma's chair opened, revealing the same three men that accompanied them before.

When Emma was about to get up, with Scott's small help, an unexpected move from Mr. Frost made them both stop.

"Don't you think that I won't hear more about this, Emma. It is my blood, after all. And... oh my..." His eyes widened as the soft skin he was touching started to change to a solid shining form.

"Don't you dare to talk about how a good parent should act. I'm here just because I'm sorry for you and Hazel. And don't touch me," the now transformed Emma said, all her emotions hidden under the diamond skin.

"Get out my house," Winston said as he let her go, not looking in her eyes.

Scott walked beside Emma the entire way back; she was still in her diamond form. She didn't say a word, but the silence spoke for her. She felt betrayed, humiliated, and that this visit was a waste of time. But she still had to try, because, on contrary of Scott, she still had a family.

Huh. Family.

"Do you want to go back to the hotel so we can pack?" Scott asked as the organic diamond entered in the limousine, ignoring the hand that he had held out to help her.

"The luggage is in the trunk. We can just go to the Black Bird."

"You... you knew this was going to happen?" Scott asked as he closed the black door and the car started to move.

"He..." She started to say as her skin was shifting back to her natural pale tone again. "He called me a bitch. A whore. In his thoughts, all the time. He thought I was there to ask for money, he..." Her make-up followed her tears as both lines ran her cheeks and rested on her delicate chin.

"Shh, forget about him, Emma, you don't need him." Scott's words were whispered as he hugged her. She hesitated to rest her head against his shoulder, but with a thought he reassured her that it was okay. "I only spoke the truth, Emma. I really think you'll be a good mother."

After a few tears, Emma tried to recompose herself, but continued in Scott's embrace. Not locking eyes with him, she spoke softly to his chest.

"Thank you."

**MM**

**Don't forget to let your review! They incentive me to post sooner!**

**Thank you for reading!**

**Miss Maia**


	16. Chapter 16

**MM**

Scott groaned as the pager on his jeans rang out once more, echoing its irritable sound all around the kitchen. He used his abilities to balance two of the three plates he was carrying in one hand and turned his torso so his hip would press on the table so he would be able to read the new message on the device.

'Forget the peaches, I want chocolate ice cream... and pizza!' he read. Scott rolled his eyes as he abandoned the peaches on the table and headed back for the fridge. He definitely hated this.

Emma was four months along in her pregnancy. He had fully reaffirmed his position as leader of the X-Men and father of the future child... it was the latter responsible for getting him up at three in the morning and going to the kitchen to get strange—they were always strange combinations—food for the pregnant woman in the Institute.

Since he was not living in the same room as the telepath, they had originally decided that she would mentally call him when she had any kind of emergency. At first it worked well, but Scott was still of the opinion that pizza was not an emergency. But after the third month of pregnancy, something weird happened to Emma…or not so weird for a pregnant woman.

She just now lost control of her motions more frequently... or always. Scott couldn't decide which expression was more accurate. Either way, it was not good when she needed to call someone using her telepathy. After the fifth time that Scott had passed out with a mental block from the blond, they opted for the pager. Again, at the beginning it seemed a very good idea. But now it rang at least four times during the night, and Scott stopped counting during the day!

But he could't blame Emma for all his bad mood. He gritted his teeth as he adjusted a spoon full of chocolate ice cream in a new bowl. Four months. Four months and not even a word. Jean had disappeared from his life, and that more than anything stressed him. He had passed through denial, forgot the hope that she would call or write. Now he was angry; angry that she just, puff, disappeared. She did't have the right! He was still her husband he... he had just let a bowlful of ice cream fall. Damn. Scott glanced back to see if there was more of the chocolate ice cream, but the box was empty. Emma would kill him for that. If he was lucky, she would devour the pizza and forget the ice cream... but he normally wasn't lucky.

As the man knelt to try to clean his mess, the thought came back to his mind... why hasn't she called? He knew she still talked to Storm, Hank and principally the Professor. But none of them ever said a word to him about how she was. Sometimes they were even angry at him; Storm shouted at him during the training yesterday... and he shouted back, and Logan entered in the middle, and now under his glasses he had a back eye. But Logan would have one too, if it wasn't for his healing factor. Either way, he was still angry.

Getting up, Scott noticed that someone else had entered in the dark kitchen. Just the small light from the corridor was illuminating the place, but Scott was a person that didn't need light to do things.

"Oh, hi Scott," the furred mutant known as Beast greeted Scott, offering him his unique and feral smile while turning the lights on. "I see that Emma is hungry."

The Doctor laughed lightly, noticing the pizza and the ice cream.

"And if she finds out that we don't have more chocolate ice cream she will be angry too," Scott answered his friend. Hank was maybe the only one of the three who still talked to Jean that treated him as before. A moment of silence followed Scott's sentence. "Twinkies?" Scott asked, grinning under his shades.

"Always," the blue man answered as he used his feet to get at the box at the back of the cupboard – an action that was already common for both of the two present.

An idea crossed Scott's mind as Hank opened what seemed to be the last box of the so loved twinkies. He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, hesitating. Still wearing his white lab coat, McCoy sat on a bench, opposite from Scott, and starting to eat the vanilla flavoured candy. Scott mentally outlined a question before sitting down, completely forgetting the chocolate and the pizza. He opened his month again but this time found the words.

"Hank... how are you?"

The doctor stopped the hand holding a delicious candy in mid air to look at Scott. He peered over the tops of his glasses. "I'm fine, Scott." Hank set the Twinkie on the plate before taking off his reading glasses and locking eyes with his team leader. "And you?" There was something in Scott's voice, he just knew there was something... but if he was going to ask about...

"I'm fine, fine, just... just thinking, you know?" Yes, he was going to ask about her. Again. "It has been four months since... since things changed and-"

"Scott." Hank interrupted the younger man before he could elaborate a better thesis. "We already had this discussion. I'm not telling."

"I'm not asking you to tell anything, I'm just..."

"Scott." Hank repeated firmly. "I'm sorry, I respect her decision, so should you."

"Now what, huh?" Scott looked closer to his friend, both hands on the table. "She disappears and don't give a signal of life?"

"Technically, considering that-"

"I'm talking about me, she didn't say a word to me since that day! She got out of my life as if I was a villain she had just defeated!" Scott's voice was low, considering the time, but Hank could feel the emotion on it. "I'm not anyone, Hank. I'm her husband."

"I knew she should had talked about the papers..." Hank mumbled to himself before talking out loud again. "No Scott, you're not her husband. Why don't you look from her angle, her point of view? A person who has to balance life and death inside her mind at every moment, that is supposed to be one of the most powerful creatures in the universe, is forced to watch her lover with someone else. And not just that, start a family with someone else."

"I'm not going to start a family with Emma, not in this aspect. We're not going to get married."

"Oh yeah? I think she still hopes for that." Hank finished his sentence swallowing an entire Twinkie.

"That's not in discussion. Hank..." Scott rested his hand on the back of his head. "Please, a phone number, an e-mail... I'm asking as a friend."

"And I'm not telling as a friend too." Seeing that this wouldn't let to anything, Hank got the white box and got up. "I need to finish-"

"I'll buy you three boxes of twinkies." Scott said firmly.

Hank looked at him and laughed. "Do you think I'm a kid? You're not going to buy me with candies."

"Five boxes. And, and I'd bring them to you at the Lab during the night when Emma calls me. It's every night, don't worry."

The blue furred mutant opened his mouth to answer to the temptation, but soon changed his mind.

"Forget Scott, I really want to help you, but I can't."

"Why not?! Hank please... I'm ordering you as your leader."

"Good one, but no."

Henry turned for the door again, and Scott took a deep breath before making his final proposal.

"I'm... I'm asking as a desperate man."

His voice was not so firm as before, but the same emotion was there. Sadness, loneliness and even... fear.

"Scott I..."

_Beep! Beep!_

The acute sound crossed the kitchen again. Scott groaned and glanced at his pager. Emma was calling him.

"Think about this, Hank. I need to go now, a pregnant woman is awaiting for me," Scott said in a quiet voice; he got three different plates that were resting on the table and passed through Hank for the stairs.

When Henry was alone at the room again, he closed his eyes and said in a breath, "You have no idea, my friend."

**MM**

He opened the door as easily as his full hands allowed. Inside his heart was the childish hope that Emma would have fallen asleep during the time he took to climb the stairs.

The lights inside the room were turned off, and Scott almost smiled when he noticed that the blond was sitting on the bed, but with her eyes closed. When he was about to turn around and head for his own room, the light from her nightstand turned on, illuminating the cheese pizza he was carrying.

"Why did you take so long?" the strangely weeping voice from Emma Frost called him from the bed. "It's been almost half an hour since I called you! We're hungry, you know?" She passed her hand on her slightly swollen stomach, trying to emphasize her condition.

By this time Scott had already gave up of his hope of just getting out of there and was already placing the pizza, the vanilla ice cream and some other 'strange food combinations' on the nightstand next to Emma.

"I just lost track of time, I'm also tired. Here." He watched as the once impeccable Miss Frost attacked the pizza with her bare hands. Poor pizza.

"Where's the chocolate?" She asked between two pieces of pizza.

"Huh..." Scott avoid her eyes as he blushed a little. "I had a little incident on that. But I brought vanilla!"

"But I... huh, vanilla..." Emma's sentence stopped in the middle when Scott offered her the cream colored candy, that also seemed very delicious. "It's easier to throw up, in the morning..." Emma said easily, knowing that at this stage of pregnancy the vomits should be close to quitting, but she was showing to be one of those great 'exceptions'.

"Good," Scott said calmly, hoping not to get to the 'you made this to me' discussion again. "I should go now, use the pager if you need anything..." He said tiredly, getting up from the bed.

"Scott wait..." Emma cleaned her mouth before locking her eyes with him. Yes, she had gain some weight, but she was as beautiful as before. "Stay... stay for just a little bit, just... until I fall asleep."

'_It wouldn't be the first time'_, Scott thought for himself. And by now Emma knew his intentions, or the lack of them. But he had a Danger Room section in about four hours, a project to discuss with Kurt about the new Black Bird, a meeting with...

'_Please, just a moment.'_

The thought crossed his mind in a way that jolted him; Scott had forgotten what is to have a telepath reading your thoughts when you aren't conscious of it.

"Give me room, I'll stay for a while," he responded quietly, offering his muscled body as a support for Emma.

"You don't want to stay here..." She said quietly as she accepted the cold embrace, her voice trembling.

"No, Emma, of course I want the best for you." Scott tried to correct his action before the tears started to drop. Oh, the hormones. "For both of you." His shy smile went with his hands that traveled to her abdomen. The mention of the baby seemed to calm down the blond, who happily leaned her head against Scott's chest.

Scott watched the hour pass by at the clock on the wall; it marked 4:32 am. He didn't know if he was dreaming or still awake beside Emma. His mind was far away wondering.

He couldn't blame her; he couldn't blame Jean or Emma for what was happening. Every time that a disaster occurred in his life, he could blame someone. He could blame his powers, he could blame the humanity, he could blame the Phoenix, El Saba Nur... he could blame himself. The latter was the best option now. But as a strategist, he knew that wouldn't work. It's okay that he could admit his faults, but how would it help him to solve his problems? Scott felt that he needed to see Jean, to talk to her, to know what is going on. All right, so Emma is pregnant, but didn't he deserve at least a decent rejection? She couldn't just delete herself from his life, not after all the years they spend together.

He was sure now: he was dreaming. He couldn't see the clock, neither the room; he was lost in his thoughts, a dangerous place to go lately.

'_Scott...'_

What? Was it part of the dream? Scott could hear a voice, a knowing voice calling his name...

'_Scott...'_

Again. She was there; she was there with him. And she was...

'_SCOTT!'_

Calling for help.

"Ah!" Scott opened his eyes and breathed heavily as the sweat rolled his temple. He looked around: the clock marked 5:30 am. He had dreamed, probably that... he had dreamed about her. "Jean..." The name came softly from his rough lips. A warm sensation on his shoulders completely awoke him; Emma was still asleep at his side.

Scott closed his eyes to try to feel the sensation again, the feeling of Jean on his mind.

Nothing.

Was it a dream or...?

He was not going to wait to see.

Getting up slowly, Scott got out the bed, happy with the realization he was able to sneak out the bed and without waking Emma. Not so delicately, he opened the door and exited the room, with no destination on his mind.

"No Logan, Hank will drive."

The voice came from downstairs, it was Charles. Scott also could hear a mumble, and that was probably Logan.

He got down the stairs and found an odd scene in the hall, even for the X-men. Professor was wearing a dark brown jacket over his pajamas, obviously showing that wherever he was going to do was an emergency. Logan was smoking a cigar – which reminded Scott that he hadn't had a smoke for almost 12 hours now – and Hank was wearing the same white jacket from their encounter before, but his face was showing a nervous expression, an uncommon thing for the patient doctor.

"What is going on?" Scott voice entered in the discussion, surprising the trio of men.

"Scott?" Hank was the first to notice the new presence in the hall.

"Oh, nice," Logan groaned, the smoke from the cigar hiding his stressed expression.

"Cyclops, you know you have a Danger Room with your team in the morning, and if you are awake, you could start preparing-"

"What is going on?" Scott's voice was firm was he cut off the Professor's sentence and repeated his question. Something in his mind was telling him that whatever was wrong had directly to do with him... or to someone whom he cared about.

"Charles, we need to go!" Hank's phrase was emphasised when the blue furred mutant shook his medical suitcase.

"What's that for? Who is injured?!" Scott was getting tired of not getting any proper answers.

"Just take care o' her, Hank." Logan turned around to leave, realizing that the Professor would go alone with Hank, and Wolverine was sure that Scott would just make a scene if he stood there.

"Who? It's Jean, isn't it?!" Cyclops looked to Hank and back to Professor. None of them answered. "I know... I felt, I-"

"Scott, please!" It was Professor's time to make a firm interruption. "I'm leaving with Hank, you are the responsible for the Institute while I'm gone. We don't have a specific time to come back, so you could-"

"It is her, isn't it?!" Scott's voice was close to a scream, but he was trying to control himself, considering the time.

"Scott, don't make it more difficult than it already is." McCoy's voice was sensible, but his blinking eyes were showing his nervousness.

"She's having a telepathic crisis." Scott said in a breath, passing his hand on his head. "I felt it, I know. I need to go, to see her, I can help. You both know that I can help!"

"No, Scott, not this time."

"But-"

"We won't have to force you to stay, am I right?" Professor's light brown eyes were challenging him. Scott knew that a fight would just compromise his posture as field Leader and will make Jean suffer even more while she awaited for help.

"Just go. She... she needs it." Scott turned his back for Xavier and Hank, the latter was already with the car keys on his hands. As they left the hall for the garage, an idea illuminated Scott's mind.

They were going to use a car, so she was not far away. Jean was probably still in New York.

He patiently waited for the car to get out the school grounds, and then headed for a specific place, to get his plan into an action.

"I could feel it..." he took a deep breath before continuing. "I will find her."

**MM**

**Thank you for reading, don't forget to review!**

**Special thanks for Hoodoo, who is proofreading the fic! **

**Maia**


	17. Chapter 17

**MM**

"I hope you are not trying to do what it looks like you're doing."

The unexpected voice alerted Scott, who was operating the panel from the Control Room.

"Kitty, the section with your team will start in half an hour. You can wait for me in the Danger Room." His voice was calm as he tried to close the window blinking in the monitor in front of him…tsk, tsk, caught in the act.

"Nice one, _Leader, _but turn off the computer now."

"You can't give me orders." Scott turned his tired face to Katherine, who was wearing her uniform and had Lockheed hung up on her right shoulder… both of them were giving threatening looks for Scott… wow, that purple dragon did have evil eyes.

"Computer, restart research," Scott said out loud after cleaning his throat.

"_Search Restarted." _The electronic voice echoed in the metallic room.

"Cancel research and delete the information of the localizer," Kitty spoke louder than Scott had.

"_Search Canceled." _

"What?!" Scott tried to type the codes on the computer key, but it wasn't responding.

"Please Scott," Kitty said as he sat on the chair behind him and allowed Lockheed to change his position to the other shoulder. "I designed this computer. My voice commander is priority. Now please, forget what you are trying to do. They don't want to be found."

After Hank and Professor had left the Mansion, Scott didn't think twice and headed for the Control Room, to try to locate the X-Van and, consequently, the place where Jean was.

"Katherine," Scott turned again to the younger woman, placing his hands at his hips. "I'm not doing anything wrong. I just… I just want to find her."

"Jean is a grown woman Scott," Shadowcat said before getting up and turning her back to her team leader – who was still in his pajamas – "if she wants to be found, she will let you know." The exit door automatically opened to let her slim form pass. "I'll be waiting you with the others at the Danger Room."

Scott heard the door closing, and behind his glasses he shut his eyes in a moment of anger.

"Computer, restart search." Scott repeated his command, hoping to get a positive result.

"_Command Denied. Search Canceled."_

"Damn it!"

**MM**

"I'm glad to find you here, John." Charles crossed the small balcony that separated him from the other man. "You were closer, so we thought it would be better to have someone here as soon as possible. That's why we called you."

"I understand, but I couldn't do anything about it. She…" The weak light from the sun that had just showed up in the sky lightened the worried expression from John Grey. "I couldn't do anything. Her room is a mess, and I can't do anything." Charles could sense the nervousness in the other man's voice and thoughts.

"Don't worry, we are here to help."

"Good Morning, Mr. Grey." Hank, who had just parked the X-Van in front of the light green house appeared in the balcony, meeting both older man. "Did she have –"

"No, she's not bleeding, as I said on the phone," John responded, already guessing the Doctor's question.

"Good, that can calm us a little. I believe we should head for her room, Charles."

"Yes, they will be fine." Xavier reaffirmed his position with a smile for John before entering the house.

"Charles, please be honest." John Grey stopped Charles's wheelchair with one hand and made the man look up for him again.

"Just the fact that we are alive and the house is still in place," the smile disappeared and reappeared as Professor responded. "It is a very good sign."

**MM**

"Tough day, huh?" The words came out from his mouth as easily as the smoke.

"Tell me about it." Scott's own smoke mixed with Wolverine's.

"You were like shit today in the DR." Wolverine continued, making himself more comfortable on the bench at the balcony that had a connection with the kitchen. "And cigarettes are for girls', try cigars." Logan finished his sentence at the same time Scott got another nicotine fount to smoke.

"Did Storm send you here? Because I don't need any advice from the only one who is laughing at the course that my life is taking." Scott adjusted his glasses and blinked to light on his cigarette using his powers.

"Actually yeah, 'Ro send me here. And no, Ah'm not laughin', Ah'm just… enjoyin' it." Wolverine blew another circle of smoke. "And, of course, maybe ya need someone to talk to."

"Fuck you, Logan. I don't need your advice."

"Okay, Ah'm done here." When Wolverine was about to get up, a lightning crossed the light blue sky of that morning and found his butt as a pole to land. "'kay…" He said again, stretching as his healing factor handled with the burned meat smell. "Ah'm not done here."

"Look kid." Logan said calmly as he locked eyes with Scott. "What Ah'm tryin' to say… or what Ah'm bein' forced to say…" He referred to his still arching ass, "is that ya need to move on."

"Oh please," Scott almost laugh at that. "I'm not sixteen, you know?"

"Ya didn't get it boy." Wolverine's eyes almost glowed as he threw his cigar away and looked back for Scott. "Ya need to move on wit yer plan."

"You mean that… you, Storm, you can help, she…"

"We both know that Red is stubborn and sometimes won't ever ask help fo' the one she must need to."

Scott nodded silently, seeing that his deepest prayers maybe would be answered. "You mean that Storm will –"

"Time to quit the chatting, guys." The cold voice from Robert Drake, who had just opened the kitchen door, interrupted Scott and Logan's conversation. "We have some work to do."

**MM**

"So we can basically say that it is a rescue mission?" Katherine asked from the back of the pilot chair, making Scott turn his head to answer her and the other five members of the team in the Black Bird.

"Yes," Scott responded out loud, so Polaris, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Colossus would hear him speaking. "The automatic system of Cerebra detected a new and powerful mutant at the West of China. It is a desert region, so I don't think we'll have much of a problem with civilians."

"Do you know what kind of power are we dealing with?" Polaris asked, adjusting herself with the chair's belt.

"Not yet, but it's certain that is an omega class."

"Oh nice." Shadowcat joked just after Scott said. "At least we have some experience on that field."

"Yes," Scott answered more to himself as he turned the auto pilot on and continued on the pilot's chair, but now just lost in his thoughts instead of actually paying attention to the aircraft.

He really wanted Ororo and Logan in on this mission, so they'd explain what Wolverine meant with 'moving on with the plan'. Of course they knew he was desperately trying to find Jean, but Kitty was right. Jean was a grown woman and would know when to look for him. At the same time, Wolverine was also right; Jean was stubborn. Maybe she also wants to find him and just can't do it by herself, that's why Ororo offered to help.

That was what his mind wanted to believe. Scott wanted to think that everything could be the same way it was, and they all would be happy. But life already taught him that things don't work like that. It was a possibility that Ororo just wanted to send him a message, and Jean actually doesn't want to even see him again. Maybe… maybe she had moved on. She could be with another man, in another life – a life that doesn't involve fighting with aliens to defend the humanity and the mutant cause.

"Scott?"

The voice alerted him.

"Oh, Kurt? Is something wrong?"

"No, I just thought that maybe we could switch, considering that it will be a long trip." The German said with a soft smile, as if he knew what was passing through Scott's mind.

"It's okay, it's on auto pilot-"

"Scott," Nightcrawler interrupted him again. "Go get some rest." The playful German blinked for him, and Scott wondered if telepathy was not a second mutation for teleporters.

Scott didn't answer and went to the back seat of the plane. Soon they would have to discuss different plans of action, but everything could change depending on what kind of mutant they were dealing with.

He just hoped it wasn't a psyche.

**MM**

"Thank you Charles. I don't even know what would be of this if you weren't here." John shook Xavier's hands again.

Professor X cleaned his sweat forehead with his handkerchief, a gesture that had repeated in the last few hours.

"Don't worry John. Just let her rest."

"I believe that it would be necessary for you or Elaine to stay here for a couple of weeks, just for precaution," Hank, who was also sitting in the small living room, said. "After that, it's Jean's decision."

"Sure, and if she – argh!" Professor exclaimed as a though telepathic wave hit him.

"Professor, are you-" Hank had forgotten his cup of tea on the coffe table and was already getting up to help his mentor.

"No, I'm, I'm fine. Hank!" His tone of voice changed as he looked up for the worried doctor. "Cerebra found something important and I believe a team is already heading for the location. I'm sorry, John we have to go." His voice was apologetic as he headed for the door, followed by Henry. "Jean is not the only mutant that needs help."

**MM**

"Did you say it was a desert?" Katherine's voice echoed in the lifeless place as the team got out the Black Bird. "Because I don't think it was a desert like… half an hour ago."

"Nightcrawler, search for survivors with Colossus. Polaris, search for any signal from above us and Kitty--" Scott looked back for the short woman as the other members of the squadron already went for their assigned objectives. "Did you say half an hour?"

"Oh boy." Iceman, who was the last one from the plane, took a look at the area around him; the place that used to be a village was completely destroyed, and he could swear that it was smelling like burning meat – which was not a good sign. The wooden made houses were torn apart, as if a bomb had just exploded in the middle of that once calm village. "I think we are at the right place." Iceman concluded as he turned into his ice form and went to the places still on fire. "Damn, I hate deserts."

**MM**

**I hope you are enjoying the story, and as a writer, I would like to know what you are thinking about it. **

**Special thanks for ****Hoodoo****,** **the betareader of the chapter. **

**Miss Maia**


	18. Chapter 18

**MM**

"Did I mention that I hate deserts?"

"More than fifteen times in the last hour, Bobby," Polaris reassured the younger man as they both continued to explore the area at the West of the Gobi Desert. The village that stood in the West limit of the desert seemed to be devastated and until now, more than three hours of searching, the X-Men couldn't find one survivor. They just hoped that the cause of that disgrace was not the reason they were there: a mutant.

"I just hate them. You can barely find water," Iceman continued complaining about the mission's locate. "And there are just dead people here. We will never find our mutant."

Ignoring her partner's complaining, Lorna responded to her communicator that was beeping. "Cyclops?"

"_Yes, Polaris, do you copy? Did you find anything?"_

"Nothing beautiful to see. Just destroyed houses and bodies. Most of them were deformed, but I can guarantee that this area is being monitored by some kind of electromagnetic device." Lorna said as easily as she used her powers to feel once again the invisible lines of magnetism crossing the entire area for miles.

"_Do you mean that someone else is here?" _Cyclops, who was at the other side of the village, asked by the communicator.

"Probably," The green-haired mutant answered and she watched Bobby drinking more water. Maybe he was not the right mutant for the mission…

"I mean, I barely can do this…" Iceman said out loud as he turned to his completely ice form, something that he had to control, considering the low percentage of humid in the air. "…and I love to walk around like I was a real-"

_Zip!_

The movement was so fast Polaris couldn't avoid until it was done. The bullet was faster than her magnetic powers, and now she was sure that they were not alone.

The living statue that was Robert Drake exploded in millions of shining ice cubes as the bullet crossed his torso.

"Shit!" Polaris said before reaching for the communicator. "Cyclops! Someone just attacked us! Bobby was shot!" Now her powers were faster as she adjusted a magnetic shield around her and headed for Iceman's side.

"_Same here!" _came the answer from the communicator, and sound of shooting in the back of Scott's voice. _"You two have to come back here, near the Black Bird! Don't ki-" _Lorna heard a louder sound of a shot and then the communication was cut.

She forgot the communicator as soon as she got closer to Bobby, or what was left of him. "Robert! Robert, please!"

"Hey, hey, be cool, okay? I just got shot!" The ice figure was formed again by the rearrangement of the molecules of water. Iceman could have lost his head, but not his sense of humor. "I told you I hate deserts."

"Shut up and follow me! Cyclops and the others are also being attacked, we are coming back!"

"Wait, just for a start, who just attacked us?" Bobby said as he cracked his newly-formed neck.

For the first time Polaris looked around; behind the destroyed housed and getting closer to them, at least fifteen military cars and soldiers were approaching.

"Tell Scott we have a problem…" Iceman said as they both used their powers to reach the air and go back to the Black Bird. "They got an official Chinese flag."

**MM**

"Scott, are you sure you will be fine?" The metal giant asked again as he helped Cyclops to cover the bleeding wound.

"Just go, Colossus, Shadowcat and Nightcrawler need you in the battle field." The name of his lover seemed to convince Piotr.

"Stay here and keep pressing the wound." The Russian said before leaving the improvised hideout near the Black Bird.

None of the X-men were expecting an attack, and all of them were caught by surprise. Kitty was about to locate the magnetic interference Lorna had mentioned when the shooting started. Colossus was ready, Kitty could defend herself and Kurt was always fast. But not Scott. He was distracted while barking orders by the communicator instead of taking care of his own safety, a priority when you are the strategist of the team. After being shot, and with Colossus' help, he could reach a safe place to start thinking about a reaction.

Wow, he definitely needed a smoke.

Thinking about it, a purple smoke appeared in front of him, followed by a familiar smell of sulfur.

"Cyclops," Nightcrawler said tiredly, "I think we have a problem. I can't speak Chinese."

**MM**

"Right, the auto commander was turned off, you can assume entire control now, Professor," Hank said as he made some space for Charles to use Cerebra. They both were aware of the situation, but none of them was happy to know that six X-Men were alone in the middle of a Chinese desert, and none of the six was a telepath to inform him of any progress or problems that may be occurring.

"Thanks Henry. But this might take some time. Go to the Control Room and try to contact them by the Black Bird's communicator." As the blue mutant exited the room, Professor Xavier placed the silver helmet on his head. "And let's see what you have to show to me, Scott."

**MM**

"That's not good, we can't keep fighting back, they will crush us." Katherine whispered to her five teammates, the six of them hiding in one of the destroyed houses of the village that had a basement. "They do have an official Chinese flag, but when I tried to speak to them, they just answered with more shooting."

"Maybe that's because we are mutants," Kurt said as they all heard yelling from above of them.

"We can't just stay here. The Black Bird is protected, I set the cloaking camouflage," Cyclops said as he adjusted the bandage on his shoulder.

"Cloaking-what?" Piotr, still on his organic steel form, asked.

"A device that will not allow any human to see or enter the Black Bird," Katherine was fast to explain.

A moment of silence followed her explanation, but Scott knew they had to do something.

"Nightcrawler, you will teleport Colossus and Iceman to the middle of the village to create a distraction. Polaris, you will protect me and Shadowcat while we head for the Black Bird to get out of here, because our target is not here, and considering our state, he needed to leave. Polaris will signal to tell Nightcrawler to teleport both Colossus and Iceman back to the Black Bird. When we are inside of the aircraft we can try a different approach, but remember to not kill anyone."

Everybody understood their orders and, seconds later, the basement was empty again.

Shadowcat used her power to emerge in the floor of another house, to be sure that there was no one present. After that, she emerged her complete body from the floor, both her hands bringing two other people, Cyclops in one and Polaris in the other.

"Okay," Scott said after he got some air, feeling his left shoulder burn a little because of the wound. "We will try to be discrete, but considering the amount of soldiers outside, we'll probably be sighted. Polaris, be always ready with the shield, and Shadowcat, you know what to do."

Both the women nodded, and once more they dived in the wooden floor.

As soon as they were outside, they could hear more shooting. The other three members of the team had been found by the military, which allowed them some time.

"The Black Bird is not far, we will be able to see it after we pass this couple of houses," Cyclops said with some difficulty breathing. The hot sun coupled with his injury was making it harder to give orders.

"They found us!" Polaris words were as fast as her reaction to reinforce the magnetic shield around them as the bullets started to try to infiltrate it.

"Fast, run!" Cyclops ordered and the three of them ran as quickly as they could to reach a safe place. As soon as Scott passed through the last house, and saw what was awaiting them, he knew that it had been a mistake.

Four men were guarding the entrance of the Black Bird, and he could see that more were inside. Three military jeeps were surrounding the aircraft, all of them full of well armored soldiers. The red Chinese flag was moving with the wind, and one man, the only one that was not dressing the brown uniform, was in front of the jeeps, staring at them.

"Something is wrong;" More sounds of bullets, now fading as the time was passing, were echoing near them. It just showed that their distraction had a limit. "Something is very wrong."

"_Freeze!" _*** **One of the soldiers shouted for the three of them.

_BAMF!_

"Cyclops, we need to – what the?" Kurt, who had just teleported bringing Iceman and Piotr, stopped his phrase to look unbelievably to the scene in front of him.

The camouflage, Scott kept thinking to himself as dozens of guns had his head as a target, the camouflage was on, how could they… no, that was a problem.

"Wow. Big Problem," Bobby said as the X-Men, not in the first and far from the last time, saw themselves in a life or dead situation.

"_Scott!" _The telepathic voice was so strong that Scott couldn't avoid moaning at the contact. _"No matter what, surrender! This is not a common military section!" _

"_I think we figured that out by now Professor," _Cyclops answered with his mind. _"We are dealing with real professionals here."_

"_Not just that." _Charles' voice was concerned as he tried to execute two different dialogues with his telepathy. _"You are dealing with mutants." _

*******Translated from Chinese. **

**MM**

It was not a big surprise, after all. A country with 1.3 billion people has to have its own mutant military group. USA is not the only country where things happen, Kitty mumbled as the six of them were arrested and brought to a military base in the nearest city, around 40 miles away from the destroyed village.

Professor Xavier had contacted their telepath and tried to clarify the misunderstanding. But what he found out also disturbed him. The mutant the X-Men went to find had already been discovered by the Chinese mutant facility; the peak of power that Cerebra had detected was a military experience about the young boy's powers. The Chinese Communist Government used their mutants as weapons. So far, nothing was new for the X-Men, they already handled worse stuff. The curious fact was that none of the mutants were forced to be used, on the contrary, most of them were volunteers.

"Kitty, tell him that we didn't want to kidnap their mutant, and someone please try to convince him that we are the real X-Men!" Scott said as the Chinese doctor tried to sew his wound.

They all were at the military facility. They had been taken to some kind of a cell, but were not being treated as prisoners. Whatever Professor had told them, it was working, well, they were alive at least.

"Scott, we invaded their airspace and entered in a military training area without permission. All of that in a Communist country. And don't think it's going to be that easy to get out of here without a diplomatic interference," Katherine said as she translated the conversation between Cyclops and one of the Chinese group's leader.

"My communicator is working," Polaris interrupted their conversation. "Professor said that he would be here by the morning."

"I guess we'll spend the night here," Kurt said while analyzing the place they were. It could be like the X Mansion's basement if it wasn't for the bad decoration.

The Chinese said something and Kitty was fast to translate.

"They will just return the Black Bird with the condition that we pay for the destruction-"

"Destruction?! It wasn't-"

"Scott, let me finish." Shadowcat cleared her throat. "And sign a document that will guarantee their secrecy."

"It looks like not all mutants groups like to appear at the news."

"Shut up, Bobby," Polaris said as she rolled her eyes.

"I guess he is gesturing for us to follow him," Katherine said again as she stood up. Scott, seeing that the doctor had finished with his shoulder, also got up. "I believe he will show our… room."

"Do they know that we could just explode everything and get out of here?" Iceman said as they were leaded for a different kind of corridor.

"We don't know who we are dealing here, Bobby. They are a military mutant group, and are obviously well trained. And they also have an omega class."

"Hey, I am an o-"

"Bobby, again, shut up," Lorna said as she playfully patted Robert's head.

"Man, I hate deserts."

**MM**

"We should have brought Betts. With her telepathy, we would be in US by now and not here in this thing," Robert complained as the X-Men waited for their mentor in a not comfortable room in the Chinese secret military facility.

"I don't know if you noticed, Bobby, but we don't have a lot of available telepaths lately." Scott's phrase was followed by a moment of silence, the other five knowing the significance of that statement.

Katherine, who was resting her head at her boyfriend's shoulder, broke the silence.

"Professor will be here soon. We don't have to worry or explode anything." The last part of her phrase was directly to Iceman, who was just toying with his powers at the corner of the room.

"I just don't understand why these kids are volunteers to this project. It is a crime with their own future, I mean, they are being used as weapons!" Kurt, who was hung up upside down by his tail, said as Kitty finished speaking.

"We are not sure if they are actually volunteers," the deep voice from Piotr responded to his friend. "Believe me, _tovarish_, when you are dealing with a Communist Government, you can't just buy everything that they say."

As if it was an answer to Piotr's phrase, the automatic door from the cold room opened, revealing a man with a child holding his hand. Two guards were behind them, but the guards didn't enter in the room when the door closed behind the man and the child.

"What are they saying?" Scott, awaking from his inner thoughts, asked while Kitty freed herself from Colossus' embrace to translate the man's speaking.

"He's saying that the boy wants to talk to you. The leader of the X-Men." Katherine's translation was more delicate than the original phrase, but meant the same thing.

The young Chinese boy didn't look anything different from the average twelve year-old boys. One thing that called attention was the fact that he was not using the standardized uniform that most of the guards did; he wore nothing more special than a white cotton shirt and brown pants.

"This is the boy who caused the explosion."

A moment of silence followed Kitty's sentence, and the present X-Men started for the boy. So small and so… powerful. Scott kneeled to keep an eye contact with the short boy.

"Yes, I'm Cyclops, leader of the X-Men," Scott said while looking deeply in the dark boy's eyes.

"_The Chinese Government appreciate your attempt to find a mutant, but we-" _the Man was interrupted by the boy.

"_Are you really heroes?" _

"Tell him we are, Kitty. And also tell him that we help any mutants that need. If he-"

"_We chose this life sir." _

After Kitty translated the phrase, Scott asked the boy:

"Which life? A life as a weapon for your country?"

"Cyclops, maybe the child is not ready…" Kitty started to say, but the boy spoke again.

"_Our families just can have one child. When they find out it is a mutant, like me, most of the parents kill their child. Just the fact that I'm still alive, it's a miracle; serving my homeland is my best way to say thank you." _After the boy finished his little speech, the door reopened. With a heavy accent, the man guiding the boy said that Professor Xavier was there.

"What did the boy say, Katherine?" Scott asked as he stood up. Even though he didn't understand what the boy meant, he felt the emotion on it.

"He…" Kitty started to say. "He said that it was a choice… his choice to be here."

"I guess an omega class can choose," Iceman said as they prepared to meet the Professor.

"Yes," Scott said almost to himself. "An omega class can have a choice."

**MM**

"You will have to take some pills to contain the infection, but the bullet had been removed." Hank finished his examination of Scott's shoulder, reminding him that he wouldn't' be able to command the Danger Room sections for a couple of weeks.

"Thank you, Hank," Scott said while getting up from the med bay. It was the first place in the mansion he had went after they had come back from China. He knew Emma was looking for him, but he had a lot more things on his mind to deal with than an irritated pregnant woman.

"Don't forget to take the pills and rest." The polite doctor offered him his unique smile as he opened the door for Scott, who had an entire arm immobilized because of his wound.

"Again, thanks. If anything happens, don't hesitate to call-"

"Scott." The furred blue hand of the physician rested on Scott's bare chest, stopping him from continuing. "Go get some rest. It's five in the morning, sleep at least until ten. Doctor's orders."

"Right." Scott smiled for his friend, before finally leaving the infirmary.

After a silent walk for his room and a quick encounter with Alex, who have heard that he had been shot, Scott entered in his room. The room was quiet, as if allowing him to think. Before his mind could dive in an infinite ocean of thoughts and wonders, Scott went to the balcony, giving him the pleasure to enjoy a smoke before going to sleep. A lot of things would kill him in the end, why not let nicotine?

When he finally managed to rest his tired head on his pillow, he noticed that the room was silent… too silent. And that lack of sound or respiration led his mind to fix in one single phrase: an omega class can have a choice.

**MM**

Sometimes we don't know when we are just dreaming or thinking; one thing that Scott knew is that he didn't want to stop.

She was there with him, touching him, speaking to him… small gestures and words that made him remember of how much he missed and needed her.

She was saying his name… that delicate voice that he wanted to hear again was almost singing for him; it was wonderful, so beautiful – he never thought that a man would be allowed to feel such pleasure in just listening.

"_Scott…"_

Yes, he wanted to answer, to feel more of her. Her hands were softly caressing his head, his brownish hair resting between her slender fingers.

"_Scott?" _

She was calling him. But something different…

"Scott?"

The light that had suddenly entered in the room, announcing that had passed midday, awoke Scott along with the soft touch on his head… his aching head, by the way.

"Scott, darling, are you awake?"

"I am now…" he said to himself as soon as he recognized the voice and the body sat on his bed.

"I was so worried about you… let me see this arm…"

"I'm fine, Emma, really," he answered as he adjusted his glasses on his face, also sitting next to the blonde. "It was just a shot."

"Just a shot?" Her words were light, and Scott could figure that she was up to something…

"Emma, I really need to… oh, it's almost one pm…" Scott glanced to his bedside watch. "I need to-"

"To rest." She finished his sentence, getting up from his bed and sitting on a chair right across him. Even with an almost five months belly, she still knew how to be sexy.

As the silence followed her move, Scott knew what came next.

"Okay, what is going on?" Scott asked easily as the icy blue eyes were glaring him.

"We," the woman started, but stopped to take a breath, "we need to talk."

"About the baby?" If the subject was going to be his future child, he even could considering not eating something before the talk.

"Yes and… more. About us."

As soon as the word 'us' was out her mouth Scott knew the entire script of their dialogue. That certainly was a woman that didn't take 'no' as an answer.

"Emma, you know that is not going to be an 'us'. We are not going to get married," Scott said tiredly, not wanting to discuss it again with Emma. "Though it's perfectly normal that we can raise this child. It will have a normal education, you know it."

"I don't want to be a mother alone."

"And you won't." Scott stood up to get closer to Emma." I already told you that I will assume this child. Now, please, let me just get some coffee before… Emma?"

For a moment Emma was quiet, which was unusual for her during a conversation. Scott heard a soft cry of pain as she retracted both her hands on her stomach.

"Emma, look at me, are you feeling well?" His voice was more anxious as he, using his balance with just one arm, kneeled in front of her chair.

"I don't know I never-" She stopped her phrase in the middle as Scott watched her eyes wind in terror. "Scott I think I'm bleeding." She said as her breath also got uneasy.

"What?" Scott couldn't hide his nervousness as he helped her to stand up, her entire body shaking, but neither of them knew why.

Scott's heart missed a bit when he saw the once perfectly white pants that Emma was using show a vivid red stain.

"Hank!" He yelled from his door as soon as he opened it. With just one arm he couldn't just carry Emma to the infirmary.

"Oh, hey Scott, are you-" Alex, who was just passing through the hall and met his shouting brother, was shoved for inside the room.

"Alex please, help me here!" Scott's tone was indescribable, and his face was the white pale of panic.

"What is-" Alex tried to form a question before he entered in the room. "Oh my God. She just fainted?"

"Fainted!?" The moment that Scott led Emma on his bed to call for help was enough to take the telepath down.

"Go call Hank, I'll take her," Alex said to his brother, assuming a commander position, seeing that Scott wasn't able to do such a thing. "Go, Scott!"

The next thing that Scott was aware of was that he was in the infirmary, moving his aching arm in desperation while shouting for Hank. A minute later, Alex appeared on the door, carrying an unconscious Emma. When Alex positioned Emma on the med bay, the stain on Emma's pant was larger, and even Alex's shirt had a considerable red mark.

"Alex, call Ororo," Hank said objectively to the blond man. "Scott, go find Professor Xavier, and be here fast." When Scott didn't move, Henry shook him. "Scott, listen to me! What is happening to Emma and the baby can be life threatening, so I need you to go quickly, now!"

"Sure," Scott said in a moment of clarity before he finally took his eyes off Emma's move less figure and headed for the door.

**MM**

"It is something I have never seen before…" Hank continued to analyze the computer screen in front of him as the results of Emma's tests were show.

"Be honest with me, Hank," Scott, who was sitting on a chair next to Emma's still lifeless body on the bed, asked.

"Professor didn't find anything that would make her telepathy the cause of it." The doctor adjusted his glasses before looking directly at Scott. "She's at her second trimester of her pregnancy, which is not common to have any spontaneous abortion. The baby is still alive, but it suffered something like a beginning of an abortion, which, again, is not common in this part of the pregnancy." Scott softly kissed Emma's hand and Hank spoke again. "But this is not a normal pregnancy. Considering that both of you are mutants, it's sure that the child is also a mutant. Emma's second mutation can change her body aspect, which can cause repulsion for the fetus, I mean, her body can interpret it as a threat and want to eliminate it. I assume that the next months she'll need to be in constant watch, or you can lose the baby."

"My God…" Scott mumbled while passing a hand on his face, noticing that he needed to shave.

"Scott…" Hank said getting closer to Emma's bed. "There is nothing we can do for now, just wait and see. I'll keep my search, but, until the baby is born, we can't be sure of anything."

"Do… do you think she will make it?" Cyclops looked up for Hank as he questioned.

"I just think that, with you by her side, she'll have more chances. I shall let you alone for a moment. If you need anything, just call."

"Thanks Hank."

The blue mutant just nodded and walked for the exit door, leaving Scott alone with Emma.

What was he supposed to do now? He thought for himself. He wanted to go after Jean, but Emma needed him. Not just Emma, his future child too.

Scott placed a hand on Emma's belly, caressing it.

Just the idea of loosing this baby drove him crazy; he didn't know what he would do if that happens… he wasn't aware of how much it meant for him until the chance of losing it appeared. No, he was not going to let Emma alone in this, he would stay, stay with her until this child is safety born. But that decision meant that he would have to stop trying to find Jean… at least until the child was born.

He didn't know what he had done to be forced to make such decisions. But he was ready to choose between his child's safety or his possible happiness… he'd give up on everything to see this kid fine, and with his mother.

Scott looked at Emma's face. She was unconscious by hours now. Of course part of it was because of the medicines she had taken, but still, it was worrying him.

"I'll be here for you…" He said calmly, hoping that the telepath could hear him. "For both of you, and I'm sorry that… well, I'm sorry." He bit his bottom lip as he stood up, heading for the balcony, where he could have a smoke.

"An omega class can have a choice…" Scott took a deep breath before lightening his cigarette. "And so do I."

**MM**

**Thank you for reading! Don't forget to review.**

**Special thanks for ****Hoodoo****, who is betareading the fic.**

**Maia **


	19. Chapter 19

**MM**

'I already had to accept a lot of things in my life. Most of them were not good experiences, but they helped me to grow up and mature as the person I am today. It was not easy to lose my family and life in the same accident. It was even worst to endure years at an orphanage, and I can't even imagine how I could pass through my ascending powers…but this…' Scott inhaled the cool air of the morning before lighting his third cigarette in the last five minutes, almost burning the piece of paper he was holding along with the nicotine rake.

After a complicated last trimester of pregnancy, Emma's baby was born. Hank had been a perfect physician during these last months, saving both mother and baby. And, of course, performing a difficult cesarean to finish the headache for the future mother… and to start a new one for Scott.

Dr. McCoy had collected the newborn's bloody sample to execute the necessary exams, so to be sure that everything was fine and maybe have an answer to why the pregnancy had been so difficult these last months… well, he did find an response. Though Scott was not happy to hear it.

'…but this…' Scott read for the fifth time the phrase on the top of the paper; MUTANT GENE: NEGATIVE.

The baby was not his.

It explained why Emma's pregnancy had been hell. Her body, her _mutant_ body, was rejecting the fetus, not recognizing the human enzymes. It soon would be a subject for one of Hank's papers, 'Mutants Who Cannot Bear Human Offspring'.

Scott was a mutant, Emma was a mutant, the baby was human. It sure was Emma's, but now it was clear that was not Scott's. He wasn't able to talk to Emma right now, or even to look at the baby. He wanted the child so much, and now that he was about to fulfill this new necessity… the humiliation. Scott was so angry… the boy – it was a boy – had been born healthy; he was relived to get out the uncomfortable mutant body. He had pale green eyes – which Scott could take, considering that he didn't know the color of his own eyes -,light red hair, or light red ten strands on the almost bald little head. It was an interesting combination, Scott though for himself as he finished another cigarette, kneading the results of the exam. Red hair and green eyes. And it reminded him of… Mark. Mark McMillan, of course. The actual father of the kid. How Scott could be so stupid? He knew Mark and Emma had spent some nights together, so why wait until almost a year to do something? Now that the baby was born he already had lost a lot of time, and maybe he had lost… love. His true love.

Scott sat at the front stairs of the Institute, where he had gone after the not so pleasant discovery. McMillan was not the only one that green eyes and red hair made him remember of. That was also her… Jean. Where would she be now? Really far from him, that's for sure. What would she think or say when she finds out that Emma was not expecting his baby? That thought just pissed him off, considering that they could have had a chance if he had known it sooner. Yes, Emma was a bitch, that had been confirmed. No matter if she was just scared of being alone, she really screwed up things this time.

And… was he supposed to just sit there and let more time pass by? Almost a year had passed… did Scott still have a chance to do things right?

Maybe there was just one way to find out. Emma would hear from him later.

Scott entered in the Mansion again, but this time headed for the garage. There was a place he needed to go.

**MM**

Okay, some things are a lot easier to think instead of actually doing… and Scott was just living another of those situations. During the drive to the house he was about to enter, he was sure he was going to do everything right, be serious and kind. But now he was just nervous.

As he passed the mail box, his stomach twisted as he read the name: Greys.

"Just take a deep breath and relax, you are doing the right thing." He spoke out loud as his hands, unintentionally, were looking for his cigarette pack in his pocket.

He bit his bottom lip as the sound of the door bell echoed inside the house in Annandale-on-Hudson. He was familiar with the house and neighborhood, but it wasn't the first time nervousness consumed him as he rang that doorbell. When he was seventeen, and Jean first asked him to go to her house and meet her parents, he was so nervous. They weren't even dating yet, but the feelings they had for each other was already so clear. He remembered that it was John Grey who answered the door back them, and the way the older man shook his hand already showed him the approval. Jean's father really liked him.

Or used to.

"Who-" The words brought Scott back to reality as the door opened and an older version of John Grey, compared to his memory, opened the door. "You." The word was dry as Scott's mouth. Politely, Scott held out his hand.

"Mr. Grey, I-"

Scott was cut off when a hard and strong punch hit his face, almost making his glass fall. Wow, that was way worse than the strong handshake from the first time.

"You are not welcome here," John Grey said as Scott was still recovering from the hard assault. For a man almost in his sixties he still knew how to punch!

"Dad!"

The feminine young voice that came from the inside of the house made Scott got out of his trauma moment. Could it be…?

"Sarah, stay away from this," John said as he entered in the house again, his older daughter coming out to check what was going on.

"Scott? Scott Summers?" The blonde woman asked to the man with a black eye. Scott blinked his sore eye before looking at Sarah.

"What is left of him," he said almost to himself.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was as cold as her father's, and in the deep of him Scott feared another attack.

"I'm sorry, I just…" Scott tried to catch his breath. "I just need to know where she is. I don't know what happened and I don't know what Jean told you, but I don't think I deserved _this_." He pointed for his deep red cheek.

Sarah seemed to hesitate for a moment, but them she looked behind of herself and closed the door, lightly pushing Scott back for his car.

"What you mean you don't know what happened? You're talking to Jean?" Sarah said as they were away from the door, almost in the street.

"No, it's been almost a year," Scott admitted bitterly.

"You mean you don't know?" There was something different on Sarah's tone, but Scott was too concerned to pick on that.

"Of course I don't, if I knew where she was I wouldn't have a black eye now!"

"No." Sarah seemed to hesitate again as she took a long deep breath. "You mean you don't _know_?"

"What?" He didn't know why, but his legs started to shake. Could she be-

"Here." Sarah took a small notebook from her grey jacket and wrote what seemed to be an address on it. "I can't do anything more than that and…" she looked back for her front door, and saw her husband, Paul Bailey, silently asking for her to come inside. It was clear that Scott was not welcome there. "I have to go."

"Sarah, wait, is she-"

"I can't… just go Scott." She left his side and headed back for the house, leaving him alone at the sidewalk.

Scott looked for the small paper she had given him, confirming that it was an address.

No matter what happened, he was going to find out.

**MM**

Scott found the country side neighborhood before the sun was down. He followed the address Sarah had given him, but the numbers were confusing… was that a five or a six?

His black car was slowly passing in front of the medium class houses, all of them in a very likely tone of green. Some kids played around the yards and the image of children made a small smile cross his face. Though it didn't take long to disappear, considering all the emotions related to children that he had to pass during that morning.

Still confused by which house was the right one, she stopped in front of a pale green house, where a dark headed boy, using a red cap and jeans was cutting the grass.

"Hey, you, buddy!" Scott said, stopping the car, but the sound of the lawn mower was too loud. "Hey boy!" Scott said again, almost yelling, which made the boy look up from his concentrated service. Scott made a sing for the boy to come closer from his open window.

"Yes sir?"

"Hi, could you help me here? I'm looking for Jean Grey's house. Do you know where it is?"

The around 12 years-old boy, with his face all sweat because of an entire afternoon of work under the sun, took his cap off as to think for a moment.

"Jean?" The boy asked for Scott, wanting a confirmation. Scott nodded his head. "Jean Stuart?" The boy asked again.

"I don't think so…" Scott answered, but a new thought crossed his mind. Could Jean be married with another man? Maybe… maybe it was that that Sarah was trying to warn him about! But… but could she be with another man, could they-

"Sir?" The boy interrupted Scott's musings. "Is her a tall, blond woman?"

"No… well, I hope not. She is indeed tall, though she's redheaded and has green-"

"Oh, Nate's Jean!" As if realization hit him, the boy showed a big and friendly smile for Scott. "Down the street sir, you can't miss. Say hi to them for me!" With that the boy waved Scott good-bye and headed back to finish his job.

Nate's Jean. Those words were still being digested by Scott… she indeed was with someone else. Another man. Nate. But he couldn't blame her, right? He couldn't… he didn't talk to her for a year, she did have the right to move on and… Oh, who was he kidding?! Scott just wanted to find this 'Nate' and show him that Jean was still a married woman! That's right! And he also could concentrate and slow down, because he was at the end of the street.

The boy was right, he couldn't miss that, that was just one house down the street, a light green house. There was no car at the garage… which could be a good thing.

Scott stopped the car in front of the house, and crossed the small distance between himself and the white door. And before he could ring the bell, the sensation that he felt at the Greys was back. He hesitated and tried to hold his hand, but it had already pushed the also white button. Option one: stay and smile. Option two: run.

Option two was a nice temptation, and his hand was already, in a very common gesture for him in the past months, looking for a new nicotine source. There Scott stood, a hand on his pocket, the other at the back of his neck, his body in a diagonal position (which showed that his body was following option two), his mouth dry and his right eye black.

And that was how Jean saw him for the first time in ten months.

"_Jean?" _The voice in the forgotten telephone that Jean was answering to when the door bell rang said, the speaker from the other line realizing that Jean had suddenly gone silent. _"Jean, are you there?" _

"I'll call you later." As if breaking the tension between their eyes, Jean turned her glance to the side, hanging up the telephone.

"Hi." Scott didn't think of a better thing to say. Though he should.

Jean looked back for him. She was different, he could see that. Her expression was very tired. She was using a ponytail, her glowing red hair pulled up to fall on her back. Scott couldn't avoid taking a look at her entire body, at least what a jeans and a jacket could show. She seemed to have gained some weight, but Scott could have gained cancer in the last months, so that was okay. He also noticed that she was not wearing a commitment ring, which was very okay.

"I…" He started to say again, looking for a better sentence than just 'hi'.

"Do you…" She said as taking a step inside the house, giving some space for Scott. "Do you want to come in?"

"Yes." Scott's head knew he had to stop with the monosyllable speech, though his mouth was not obeying him.

Scott felt a warm sensation as he entered in house. The living room was not as organized as you would expect Jean Grey's house to be, but that probably had an explanation.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Scott cleaned his throat and turned around to face Jean.

"I'm sorry," he started. "I don't know if you are aware of the recent events, but-"

"Hank called me," she said quietly, understanding the powers of those three words.

"Good. He is definitely a better wordsmith than me." For the first time Scott saw her smile. He didn't know how much he missed that image, but it was so deep that he couldn't even smile back.

"Maybe we could-" A new and different sound interrupted Jean's voice. Though Scott was not familiar with it, he could recognize it: a baby's cry. "Just a second." Jean crossed the living room and entered in the first door of the corridor. It was not a big house, and Scott could hear her mumbling sweet things to what seemed to be a baby.

He was definitely too late. Was it her child? Probably. Probably from this 'Nate' guy.

Scott took a deep breath and sat at the three sits couch at the living room.

Jean was in the room for almost ten minutes, and the baby still seemed to by crying…

"I didn't want to interrupt anything…" Scott said as he entered in the room where Jean was, but couldn't complete his sentence when he saw her… well, them. The little fellow seemed to be a boy, all wrapped up in a blue blanket. He was also crying his lungs out, desperate for attention. Jean had the front of her jacket opened, which showed that the boy was not hungry, she had already tried that. But together they were so… beautiful.

"I'm sorry, he normally isn't that difficult to handle."

"I can imagine that. He seems to be very…" Scott tried to find the best word to describe what that baby was passing for him, but the only thing he could say was "… very incredible."

"And loudly," Jean joked as she got closer to the door and Scott. "Do you want to hold him?"

"I shouldn't, I mean, I…" But before Scott could finish the sentence he saw himself holding an infant. What an irony for him, considering that he thought he would be holding his son today, be found now holding another man's child…

"See, he's calmed down a little."

"Yeah…" Scott was mesmerized by the boy. "Cute smile, like his mom." Scott smiled down for Jean, who still had her arms close to him since he held the boy. Jean smile for him, just to emphasize Scott's comment, matching the child's contour. "The eyes…" Scott said before noting the boy's glance. "Light brown. I think you lost here Jean. Those are the father's, right?"

"Yeah…" Jean said taking a step back. "Probably." She mumbled to herself.

"Jean I…"

"Here, let me put him back." She made sure that the boy was comfortable in his crib before leaving the room, Scott right behind her.

When they were alone at the living room again, Scott started to say.

"I didn't know you were with someone else, Jean. If you want me to leave now, I'll understand."

"I'm not." She sat on the couch Scott was before, passing a hand on her face.

"I'm sorry?" Scott asked as he took a sit at her side.

"I'm not with someone else Scott. I live here alone with Nathan, the baby."

Okay, that revelation was a little embarrassing for Scott. So THAT was 'Nate'… a two months old baby, Scott's big rival.

"Where… where is the father?" Scott asked as Jean stood up, a cloth on her shoulder.

"Isn't he beautiful?" she said. "He is so smart, Scott. He's just two months and is already so strong…"

"Two months…" Scott repeated for himself.

"He was premature, I was so afraid something would turn out wrong, but he is so healthy." Jean's eyes had a shallow glow of tears as she spoke. "His name is Nathan. Nathan Christopher Charles. And yes, Professor knows that." One tear escaped her eye.

"Jean…" Scott stood up to try to understand what was actually happening.

"Nathan, Scott." She looked directly into his eyes. "Nathan Christopher Charles Summers."

**MM**


	20. Chapter 20

**Thank you all for reading this**** fan fiction. I hope you like this final chapter! **

_**Enjoy!**_

Miss Maia

**MM**

You can't choose the path of your life. And it is very frustrating when you discover that for the first time. You are not the God of your life, you can't define when or why things are going to happen. They just do; and what defines you as a good human being is the fact that you accept them or not.

And yes, sometimes you have to fight against destiny.

Or sometimes you are just… not human.

--

Scott fondled the small head that had searched for his bed in the middle of the night. Among the reddish brown hair there was still light red bangs fighting to keep in the color besides what time was doing.

Scott moved his hand for the swollen stomach of his wife, who was expecting their second child. She didn't say anything, but he was almost sure it was a girl. He delicately kissed his three-year-old son's head before sneaking out of bed.

Before he was out of the room, he turned around to contemplate his small - but already full of history - family; Jean was glowing more and more at each month of pregnancy, and Scott was wonderfully happy that this time he could be around her, what he couldn't do during Nathan's; the boy was also growing strong and smart, very like his mother – which scared both his parents a little.

With one last look over them, he headed for the hallway at the third floor of the Xavier Mansion. He glanced at the clock on the wall, it marked two thirty am… the perfect time for a sneaking out.

He didn't take the elevator, not wanting to call any unnecessary attention. He carefully climbed down the stairs, heading for the kitchen. Soon he was out of the back door, contemplating the beautiful summer night sky. As soon as the door behind him closed, he reached for his pajama pant's pocket and got a cigarette.

Scott even closed his eyes to enjoy the first draught of nicotine… he was almost a month away from that, he really missed it.

"Ya know, Red' would hate to know ya're out here smokin'."

"Logan…" Scott turned around to face the older man, who had a cigar on his thin lips. His torn jacket and pants showed that the Canadian was probably coming back from one of his solo adventures… or just a night with too much beer.

"I'm serious. Jean'd hate to know that all her efforts to make ya stop with this shit were useless."

"Look who's talking."

"Look who doesn't have a healin' factor."

"Touché," Scott said as they both sat on a white bench right beside the door.

"Tough night?" Cyclops asked without looking at Wolverine.

"Nothin' much… just a few broken teeth."

"Ouch, is the healing factor working well?"

"Who said they were _my___broken teeth?"

Scott laughed lightly, but it soon turned into a fit of coughing. After that, they both were silent.

"You're right." Scott tossed aside the half finished cigarette.

Another moment of silence filled the air, just the sounds of the cool night's breeze breaking it.

Logan, after discarding his own cigar, asked, "How's Emma?"

"Apparently fine. Back to work." Scott answered carelessly.

"And the boy?"

"As good as a child from two New York businessmen can be."

"I…" Scott started to say as he stood up. "I have to go, Jean will notice that I'm gone."

"Right," Logan mumbled as he searched in his pocket for another cigar.

"Hey Scott?" His gruff voice called as Scott was opening the door to enter in the kitchen.

"Yeah?" He asked, half his body already inside.

"Nice job." He didn't look at Scott and just lit on his cigar. "With them, nice job."

"We… we never know what is going to happen."

"Ya're tellin' me this?" Logan looked up for him as he extended his claws. "Ya two have a unique thing; don't screw it."

Scott chuckled before entering in the room.

The walk back to his room seemed longer as he slowly made his way upstairs, back to his family… and it marveled him every time he thought about it: his family. After all the events, all the pain, confusedness and sorrow, he finally had a family. And Logan was right, he couldn't ruin everything again. Now he knew, even death could be uncertain.

Before he opened the door, Scott checked if his hair and clothes smelled like cigar; yes, they were, but he hoped that it wouldn't irritate Jean's pregnant sensible nose. As he opened the door, he couldn't avoid staring at Jean, who had a positioned hand under her son's head and another around her belly, the blue light from the window illuminating her glowing body. That woman was the reason for the worst memory of Scott's life. The memory of her own death. At the same time she was the one he would have to thank for the happiness that he ever found in life. What they had, the basis of their relationship, was beyond every human expectation, it encompassed forces that rule the universe, and it could survive the hardest circumstances, even if they don't want to – it was stronger than themselves.

But… but at the same time it was simple. It could be resumed in the admiration of a passionate man staring his lover sleeping. It could fit in the small space of a kiss…

Their love is like an old book: it could be from decades ago, can describe a romance from lovers that are long gone, an old love. But no matter how many times you read it, it always tells you something different, something new… a new story.

Scott laid down next to Jean, not even noticing that he was smiling.

**THE END**

**MM**


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